What can happen if you tend to grind and clench your teeth at night? Over time, you can have difficulties with pain, limited jaw movement, and noticeable dental damage! Our Ankeny, IA dentist’s office can help with an ongoing struggle with bruxism. Through the protection of your smile with a custom appliance, we can keep you from experiencing worsening problems with friction and wear and tear. We can also evaluate you to see if you would benefit from cosmetic or restorative treatment. While you can identify certain warning signs of grinding and clenching on your own, the symptoms of this condition can be identified at a dental exam, which can lead to prompt care.
Nightly Teeth Grinding Can Turn Into A Serious Smile Threat
When you have trouble with nightly teeth grinding and clenching, it can turn into more problems with your oral health and appearance than you anticipate. The friction and pressure from these actions can lead to problems with your jaw joints and muscles, causing you to experience chronic joint stiffness and limited movement. You can also have difficulties with dental damage as you wear down your enamel. That can even lead to chips and cracks in teeth that leave you in need of restorative dental work!
Preventing Further Harm From Bruxism
To protect yourself against further harm from nightly teeth grinding, we can recommend that you receive a custom oral appliance to wear while you sleep. We will take care to create a guard that is able to stay secure and feel comfortable. That custom design makes it easier to keep it in place so that it gives you long-term support. By remaining in position, it keeps your teeth apart so that they no longer grind, and it helps reduce stress on your jaw joints and muscles.
Treating Chipped, Cracked, Or Misshapen Teeth
Unfortunately, not everyone starts treatment for bruxism before they have dental damage that needs to be treated. Based on an evaluation of your enamel, we can determine if you can proceed with cosmetic dental work, or if you should look into restorative services. The placement of a dental crown on a damaged tooth can have several benefits. It can restore your ability to bite and chew with your damaged tooth, and it can also provide cosmetic benefits.
Talk To Your Ankeny, IA Dentist About Treating Teeth Grinding Issues
When they are not being managed properly, issues related to nightly teeth grinding can have serious consequences. Fortunately, there is something that your Ankeny, IA dentist can do to help you! We can talk to you about protecting your smile from further wear and tear, and we can also determine if you need to address dental damage. If you would like to find out more, contact Dental Impressions at (515) 965-0230 to schedule a visit.
