Bruxism could damage your teeth, leading to worn down teeth or even cracks and chips. You need help to avoid the onset of tooth decay or even infection! In today’s blog, your team at Lake Orion Family Dentistry talks about avoiding dental damage from bruxism for patients in Lake Orion, MI.
The Presence of Chronic Teeth Grinding
Why do we grind our teeth? This could happen due to high stress levels in your daily lives, or as a result of untreated TMJ disorder. Factors like missing teeth, misalignment, injury, or even concerns with the growth of your jaw and eruption of your teeth could lead to teeth grinding. Without treatment, bruxism could damage your teeth. They could develop cracks, chips, and worn-down structures that allow cavities and even infection to develop, which then leads to pain and the risk of tooth loss! But we can help, treating the issue with a custom oral appliance. We can even treat the damage with holistic and metal-free dental work.
Bruxism Treatment
Our team will examine your smile with digital imaging to assess the severity of your bruxism. We then take detailed digital images of your bite from multiple angles, and use these to create a 3D model, so we can design and custom-fit your oral appliance with precision. When the oral appliance is ready, you will take it home and wear it at night while you sleep. Once in place, this fits like a mouthguard and helps shift your jaw to ease underlying stress and strain, and to also add a soft barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth. You avoid further damage and pain!
Since bruxism damages teeth, we could treat any injuries. With bonding, we use composite resin to address minor injuries and add length to teeth when needed. With a crown, we can create and place a custom restoration that covers the tooth and addresses more severe injuries, again using lifelike and metal-free materials, such as porcelain or zirconia.
Boosting Oral Health at Home
You could also take steps at home to limit the risk of teeth grinding and protect your smile. Avoid too much caffeine in your diet, and try to limit chewy or hard food items if you have pain in your face and jaw. If you can, take steps to limit stress in your daily life. In addition, be sure you brush and floss, and see our team for a checkup and cleaning every six months, so we can examine your smile and offer optimal oral health.
Lake Orion Family Dentistry Provides General Dentistry
We want to help prevent damaged teeth with teeth grinding appliances. To find out more about general and preventive dentistry, or to schedule an appointment, call Lake Orion Family Dentistry in Lake Orion, MI at (248)693-6213.
