Bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding, can lead to worn down teeth and even injuries, such as cracks or chips. These injuries could then mean the onset of tooth decay and dental infection! In today’s blog, your team at Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA, talks about protecting teeth from bruxism damage.
How Chronic Teeth Grinding Harms Your Teeth
Various factors could cause you to grind your teeth. Changes to bite balance due to missing teeth, injury to the face or jaw, issues with jawbone growth and tooth eruption, and even misalignment could lead to chronic teeth grinding. Bruxism could also occur due to high stress levels and the presence of TMJ disorder. When you grind your teeth at night, this could impact how your significant other rests. You could also experience sores in the face or jaw during the day, headaches and migraines, and aches in the teeth, such as tooth sensitivity when you eat or drink, or a toothache that lasts for more than a day.
Conducting a Diagnosis
Our team will start the treatment process by examining your smile with detailed digital imaging technology. With digital x-rays, we can assess any damage that causes issues with the eruption of your tooth. With an intraoral camera, we can look at the surfaces of the teeth for common signs of wear and friction. We can also assess the overall balance of your teeth. With this examination, we can assess the presence and severity of your chronic teeth grinding. We then plan treatment, including the creation of a custom oral appliance.
Treating Bruxism and Repairing Teeth
For some, we could boost bite balance with a bonding or crown procedure. We could correct misalignment with clear aligners or braces, and even replace missing teeth with a dental prosthetic. But in most cases, we can treat bruxism with an oral appliance, a device custom-fitted for your smile and worn as you sleep. Fitting like a mouthguard, this will gently reposition the jaw to ease stress and strain, and also put a soft barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent further injury to the bite.
Speaking of injuries, with treatments like dental bonding and custom crowns, we can repair and restore teeth worn down or damaged by bruxism, prevent decay and infection. If you have any questions about how we diagnose and treat an issue like teeth grinding, then contact our team today to learn more. We want to help return your smile to full function, health, and beauty once again.
Dental Impressions Prevents Injury and Restores Teeth
We want to help treat your chronic teeth grinding with a custom oral appliance. To schedule an appointment and receive teeth grinding treatment, then call Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA today at (515) 965-0230.
