When you grind your teeth on a nightly basis or clench them regularly, this could damage teeth and lead to major complications. For a noninvasive treatment, we could create a custom night guard. In today’s blog, your Newport Beach, CA, dental practice talks about treating bruxism with night guards.
The Causes of Teeth Grinding
Why do some of us grind and clench our teeth frequently? This could be the result of high stress levels, or factors that upset bite balance. Possible factors include tooth loss, injury to the face or jaw, dental misalignment, untreated TMJ disorder, and complications with the growth and development of your jaw. As part of your treatment, we will carefully examine your smile to diagnose the cause and assess the extent of your bruxism. From there, we can choose the right treatment option, which could include a noninvasive night guard.
Warning Signs and Dangers
Your significant other may let you know that you grind your teeth, otherwise you have to look for the warning signs that occur during waking hours. These could include headaches, migraines, jaw pain, facial aches, and tooth sensitivity and toothaches. If one or more of these uncomfortable symptoms sounds familiar, then let us know right away. Otherwise, the pressure can wear teeth down and even crack or chip them, impacting the esthetics of your smile and increasing the risk of tooth decay and dental infection too.
Treatment with a Night Guard
Our team will often provide relief with a night guard. The device fits comfortably and is custom-fitted to your smile based on detailed digital images we take. The appliance then corrects the position of the jaw to ease imbalance and stress, and also puts a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent further damage to the smile. They are easy to use and clean, and can also help ease TMJ disorder as well. Our team could also help address bruxism by replacing missing teeth with a lifelike prosthetic, or using bonding and contouring or crowns to improve bite balance and chewing function. We could also correct misalignment with orthodontics too.
If you have any questions about how we diagnose and treat issues like bruxism, then contact our team today. If you’ve sustained damaged teeth due to grinding and clenching, we can repair your smile with dental bonding or crowns, returning your teeth to optimal health, function, and beauty again.
Talk To Your Newport Beach, CA Dentist About Oral Appliance Therapy
We would love to help you avoid the impacts of untreated bruxism. To find out more about our treatments for teeth grinding and other issues like TMJ disorder, contact Dr. Hofkes at Balboa Dental Surgery at (949) 630-0143 to discuss care today.
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