When you grind your teeth at night, this could place major pressure on your teeth. The result could be painful symptoms and a higher risk of tooth decay and infection! But we can help with an oral appliance. In today’s blog, your Grand Prairie, TX, dentist talks about providing a gentle and noninvasive oral appliance for your teeth grinding.
The Causes of Teeth Grinding
Why do some of us grind our teeth so frequently? For some, this could be due to high levels of stress in your daily life. For others, issues that upset bite balance could be responsible, such as untreated TMJ disorder, injury to the face or jaw, misalignment, tooth loss, or complications with the growth of your jaw or eruption of your teeth. As part of your treatment, we will assess the cause of your teeth grinding, which is a key part of the treatment planning!
How to Recognize Bruxism
For some, a significant other will alert them to teeth grinding at night. But there are also bruxism symptoms that occur during your waking hours. For example, you could experience headaches or migraines, jaw or facial pain, or toothaches or tooth sensitivity. When you have persistent pain in and around your smile, let us know right away. We will conduct an exam with digital imaging technology to assess the presence of wear and friction and understand the underlying factors behind your bruxism. From there, we can offer treatment.
Treatment Options
While an oral appliance is the most common solution for bruxism, we could also help by correcting misalignment with clear aligners. Our team could replace lost teeth with prosthetics, such as dental bridges or even dental implants. We could also help improve overall bite balance with dental bonding or crown placement.
Custom Oral Appliance
The oral appliance will look and fit like a mouthguard, and will be worn while you sleep at night. We will custom-fit the device for your smile to ensure comfort and treatment with precision. When worn, this helps reposition the jaw to ease pressure and imbalance, and the device also puts a soft barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent further damage. The appliance is easy to use and clean, and it can travel with you too!
Repairing a Tooth
If bruxism has worn down or damaged teeth, we can repair them so you avoid the sonnet of cavities or infection. With dental bonding, we can repair the tooth in only one visit using the same composite resin we employ as part of our tooth-colored dental fillings. We can also take on more substantial damage with the placement of a custom dental crown. If you have any questions, then please reach out to our team today to learn more!
Learn More About Addressing Bruxism
Our team wants to offer treatment for chronic teeth grinding to keep your smile comfortable and intact! When you are ready to schedule your appointment with our office, contact Pecan Tree Dental in Grand Prairie, TX at 972-262-5111.
