How To Stop Grinding Your Teeth
When you grind your teeth or clench them on a nightly basis, this is referred to as bruxism. This disorder can impact adults and eventually, lead to damaged smiles and poor oral health. To protect the appearance and health of your smile, you should talk to your Cleveland, TX, dentist about treating bruxism.
The Causes and Warning Signs
We grind our teeth for a number of different reasons. For example, high levels of stress could be a major factor. But other causes could be due to bite imbalance, caused by tooth loss, malocclusion, injury to the face or jaw, untreated TMJ disorder, or misalignment. As you begin to grind your teeth, your significant other may let you know, as this happens when we sleep. Otherwise, you could notice your headaches and migraines, jaw pain, facial aches, and pain in the neck and shoulders. Toothaches and tooth sensitivity are common too. If you experience these symptoms, then let us know right away.
Damaging Your Smile
The pressure from grinding and clenching your teeth could wear down outer tooth structure and even crack or chip the tooth. This damage alters the appearance of your smile, but also exposes sensitive inner tissues to harmful oral bacteria, causing tooth decay and even dental infection. As your discomfort worsens, you could even risk the loss of your tooth and the spread of infection! Which is why treatment is so essential.
Treatment and Preventive Actions
For most, we can offer treatment with an oral appliance. Our team will gather detailed digital images of your smile, which we use to help design and craft an oral appliance. This device is taken home with you and worn like a mouthguard as you sleep. Once in place, this adjusts the position of the jaw to ease strain, and could provide a barrier between the upper and lower teeth to prevent damage. Other treatment options include restorations to improve balance, or orthodontics to correct misalignment. We could also replace missing teeth with lifelike and custom dental prosthetics. You can also help by avoiding caffeine and hard/chewy foods, as the actions necessary to eat them could exacerbate symptoms. You should also take steps to ease stress in your daily life.
If you have any questions about treating bruxism then let us know. If teeth grinding has damaged your smile, we could offer repair with dental bonding or lifelike dental crowns!
Do You Have Questions About Bruxism?
Treating bruxism helps prevent damage to your smile. If you have any questions about how to stop grinding your teeth, or if you would like to schedule a consultation today, please contact Cleveland Family Dentistry in Cleveland, TX, at (281) 592-1234. You can also find our practice at 205 E. Houston St. Cleveland, TX 77327.