How To Stop Teeth Grinding

cleveland teeth grinding

If you grind and clench your teeth on a nightly basis, this means you suffer from bruxism. Over time, this issue could not only interrupt your significant other’s sleep, but could damage your smile. In today’s blog, your Cleveland, TX, dentist offers tips and treatments to help you stop grinding your teeth.

The Causes of Bruxism

How does a disorder like bruxism occur? Often, the result is due to factors that change the balance of your bite and how your teeth fit together. This could include missing teeth, malocclusion caused by misalignment, injury to the face or jaw, untreated TMD, or even issues with the growth of the jaw and the eruption of the teeth. For others, a high level of stress could be responsible too. Our team will examine your smile carefully to understand the underlying factors, as this helps us choose the best treatment option for your smile!

The Risks for Your Smile

Without treatment, the constant pressure from grinding and clenching could wear down teeth and expose sensitive inner structure. Teeth could even be cracked or chipped! The damaged structure then increases the risk of complications like tooth decay and even dental infection. You experience major discomfort, and the risk of tooth loss as well. Symptoms to watch for include tooth sensitivity, toothaches, headaches and migraines, jaw and facial pain, and aches in the neck and shoulders. If you encounter one or more of these warning signs, then you should let us know right away!

Lifestyle Changes

You could help by making changes to your daily life. For example, cut back on caffeinated drinks, and avoid foods that are especially hard or chewy, as this could worsen symptoms with time. Use a warm washcloth to ease tension in your jaw as well.

Oral Appliance Therapy

Treatment could range from crowns and bonding to improve bite balance, orthodontics to correct uneven teeth, or even dental prosthetics to replace missing teeth. But we often offer relief with a custom oral appliance, which looks and fits like a simple mouthguard. Worn as you rest at night, the device actually repositions your jaw to ease pressure. This provides a barrier between your upper and lower teeth as well, so you have a reduced risk of damaged teeth. If you have any questions about how we diagnose and treat issues like tooth grinding, then contact our team today. We want to help protect your smile from grinding and clenching!

Talk To Your Cleveland, TX Dentist About Fighting Teeth Grinding

We want to offer a treatment for your chronic teeth grinding to safeguard your smile! For more information on protecting the health and function of your smile, then contact your Cleveland, TX, dentist, Dr. Uhrenholdt, by calling (281) 592-1234.