Bruxism Could Damage Your Teeth
When you grind or clench your teeth, and this happens on a regular basis, you may suffer from bruxism. Without treatment, this causes painful symptoms and even damages teeth to leave them vulnerable to decay or infection. In today’s blog, your Cleveland, TX, dentist discusses the causes of bruxism and how we can offer relief.
The Causes of Bruxism
Bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding and clenching, can develop due to factors that cause bite imbalance, such as untreated TMJ disorder, tooth loss, misalignment, injury to the face or jaw, or problem with the growth of the jaw and the eruption of the teeth. High levels of stress in your daily life could be a factor as well. As part of your treatment, we will carefully examine your smile with digital technology, assessing overall bite balance and identifying wear and friction on the teeth to understand the cause and extent of your bruxism. This allows us to choose the most appropriate treatment option!
Symptoms and Complications
How do you know if you grind your teeth at night? For some, a significant other will let them know. For others, there are symptoms that develop in the waking hours, like headaches, migraines jaw and facial pain, and aches in the neck and shoulders. Tooth sensitivity and toothaches are common too. As the disorder remains untreated, this wears down enamel and could even crack or chip a tooth. The damage alters the smile’s appearance, making teeth appear short and uneven. The risk of tooth decay and infection also increases, leaving your smile vulnerable to serious pain and even tooth loss.
Oral Appliance Therapy
Our team could offer a number of treatments to bring relief. For example, we could replace missing teeth with prosthetics to improve balance. Crowns, bonding, and even contouring could be used to correct overall balance, easing discomfort in the smile. But in most cases, we will employ oral appliances to help treat your grinding and clenching. The appliance itself will look and fit like a mouthguard, and is worn as you rest at night. We will design and custom-make it based on detailed images we take of your smile with digital technology.
When worn, this helps reposition the jaw to ease pressure and stress. The appliance also prevents further damage to the teeth by placing a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth. If a tooth is damaged, we can offer repair with crowns or even bonding and contouring.
Talk To Your Cleveland, TX Dentist About Stopping Teeth Grinding
Our team is ready to prevent the negative impacts of serious buildup. For more information on protecting your smile from damaged teeth and tooth decay, contact your Cleveland, TX, dentist, Dr. Uhrenholdt, by calling (281) 592-1234.