Teeth Grinding Can Harm Your Smile

Bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding, not only drives your significant other crazy, but this could actually damage your smile and lead to major oral health complications. Fortunately, we can provide relief with a custom-made and comfortable bruxism appliance. In today’s blog, your Gary, IN, dentist talks about treating teeth grinding.

The Causes of Bruxism

While kids often grind their teeth for short periods as they grow, and adults do occasionally, persistent and nightly grinding and clenching could mean serious trouble for your smile. Bruxism could be linked to high levels of stress, tooth loss, misalignment, untreated TMJ disorder, injuries to the face or jaw, or any other issues that upset the balance of your bite. Understanding the exact causes is part of our treatment process, and helps ensure we prescribe the most appropriate treatment option for your smile.

The Symptoms and Long-Term Damage

People who grind their teeth may experience headaches and migraines, jaw pain, aches in the neck and shoulders, and tooth sensitivity and toothaches. Over time, the damage to the tooth enamel could expose the inner tissues of your teeth to harmful bacteria, which allows cavities and infections to develop, leading to painful symptoms and the increased risk of tooth loss. To avoid negative changes to your oral health and smile function, and prevent your teeth for appearing short or uneven, you need treatment.

Treatment with a Bruxism Appliance

To begin, we will carefully examine your smile with advanced technolgoy, identifying the factors behind the grinding and clenching, and also assessing any damage. The information we gather will be used to design and custom-fit a custom-made oral appliance. The device will fit like a mouthguard, and look like one too. The appliance provides a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth, preventing further damage. The appliance also repositions the jaw the ease pressure and alignment issues, so you avoid grinding episodes. Other treatment options include orthodontics to correct misalignment and crowns to improve bite balance. For some, we could even use Botox to ease strain in the smile and prevent grinding, while also improving the esthetics of your face, removing fine lines and wrinkles.

You can also help prevent worsening symptoms by avoiding hard or chewy foods, trying to reduce stress sin your daily life, and also using a warm washcloth to help ease strain in your smile. If you have any questions about how we treat an issue like teeth grinding, then contact our team today to learn more.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT TREATING TEETH GRINDING?

Our team wants to help you avoid the broke and cracked teeth that bruxism could cause. Contact Healthy Smiles in Northwest IN by calling 219-938-2637 to learn more about restoring balance and health to your smile!