What Causes of Tooth Sensitivity and Toothache?
Do you avoid eating ice cream because your teeth are too sensitive to cold? Does it seem like you need a filling every time you see the dentist? Since your smile relies on enamel to protect the sensitive pulp, tooth sensitivity and a prevalence of cavities are often signs of enamel erosion. Ankeny family dentist, Dr. Amanda Foust offers these tips for protecting tooth enamel and building back your smile’s defenses.
How Teeth Grinding Harms Your Health
If you wake every morning with ringing ears, feel a dull ache in your shoulders and neck, or experience frequent headaches, you may have bruxism. This condition involves conscious and unconscious teeth grinding which not only exerts stress on your neck and shoulder muscles but also wears away your tooth enamel. In fact, enamel erosion is why tooth sensitivity is one of the main symptoms of bruxism. When your teeth gnash against one another, the hard enamel meets its match and becomes weak. Extreme pressure throughout your sleeping and waking hours can wreak havoc on your oral and overall health. You can prevent teeth grinding during your sleep with nightguards. These mouthguards worn at night will keep your back teeth from touching and triggering bruxism.
How to Build Back Enamel Strength
Once enamel is lost to teeth grinding, harsh brushing, acid formation, or other dental health issues that wear away the protective layer, your body cannot reproduce enamel. Since the enamel layer is not connected to any living tissue, your body relies on mineral supplements to strengthen your smile defenses. Fluoride treatments are one of the most commonly used ways to enhance your enamel strength. This natural mineral combines with the outer layer of your teeth to make enamel thicker. Fluoride treatments in Ankeny are a great preventive measure for patients with bruxism, or patients who are more vulnerable to cavities. Children and patients undergoing orthodontic treatment are usually recommended fluoride supplements.
Quality Dental Care in Ankeny
These are just some of the ways you can protect your teeth from sensitivity and tooth decay. For more information or to schedule a dental cleaning, contact our Ankey dental office at (515) 965-0230. At Dental Impressions of Ankey, our friendly professionals look forward to helping you and your family achieve healthy smiles. We are happy to provide family dental care to patients from the Ankeny, Polk City, Bondurant, Elkhart, and Alleman areas.
