When you grind and clench your teeth on a nightly basis, this could be due to bruxism. A serious disorder, this can damage teeth and change the appearance of your smile. In today’s blog, your Prairie Village, KS, dentist talks about how we design and treat oral appliances to treat bruxism.
The Causes of Bruxism
What causes us to grind and clench our teeth on a regular basis? Bruxism could occur due to high levels of stress in your daily life. But factors that upset the balance of your bite could also be responsible. For example, you could develop chronic teeth grinding due to tooth loss, malocclusion caused by dental misalignment, injuries to the face or jaw, or issues with the growth and development of your jaw and the eruption of your teeth. As part of your treatment, we will examine your smile to assess the cause of your bruxism and choose the most appropriate treatment option, which often includes a custom oral appliance.
The Signs You Need Treatment
How do you know if you need to seek treatment with our team? You may need to see our team when you notice you have persistent headaches, jaw pain, and toothaches or tooth sensitivity. Jaw and facial pain could occur too. When you have regular pain in your head, jaw, or teeth, or if your teeth begin to look shorter than usual and worn down let us know. Over time, the damage could lead to an increased risk of tooth decay and dental infection.
How We Treat Your Bruxism
For some, we could improve the alignment of your teeth with orthodontics or we could replace missing teeth with a custom dental prosthetic. Placing crowns or conducting bonding procedures could help improve bite balance too. But for many, we offer a custom and comfortable oral appliance to bring relief. The device is custom-fitted based on detailed digital images and measurements we take of your smile. The completed appliance will look like a mouthguard and is worn like one while you sleep. While in place, this repositions the jaw to ease stress and strain, and also places a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent further damage to your smile. We can then use custom crowns or possible composite resin dental bonding to repair any damage and restore proper bite balance.
If you have any questions about how we diagnose and treat bruxism, then contact our team today to learn more.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT TEETH GRINDING?
We want to help you smile with confidence and avoid damage to your smile. To find out more about our general dental treatments, you can call Dr. Browne in Prairie Village, KS, at 913-901-8585.
