Don’t Let Teeth Grinding Hurt Your Smile

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des moines teeth grinding

When you grind your teeth on a regular basis, this could lead to damaged smiles and major oral health complications. Which is why you should always seek treatment to stop bruxism and prevent damage! In today’s blog, your Des Moines, IA, dentist discusses possible treatments for teeth grinding and clenching. 

The Factors Behind Bruxism

Bruxism could be caused by issues that alter the balance of your bite or strain your jaw joints, such s malocclusion, tooth loss, injury to your face or the jaw, misalignment, or even untreated TMJ disorder. For others, high levels of stress and anxiety could lead to grinding teeth and clenching jaws. As part of your treatment, we will carefully examine your teeth to look for signs of wear and friction, and also imbalance, to help assess the cause and extent of treatment. With this information, we can make a diagnosis with precision and accuracy.

Warning Signs

Warning signs vary from patient to patient, but often include headaches and migraines, toothaches and tooth sensitivity, jaw pain, and aches in the face, shoulders, and neck. When you experience pain in your smile, please see our team right away. Over time, the pressure from grinding and clenching could wear down tooth structure, or even cause cracks or chips to appear in them. This damage not only leads to sensitivity and discomfort, but tooth decay and infection that could compromise the stability of your smile.

Treatment

Treatment could involve orthodontics to address misalignment, or a prosthetic to replace one or more missing teeth. Placing custom crowns could also help by restoring balance. But the most common solution is an oral appliance, one that looks and fits much like a mouthguard. The device is custom-fitted for your smile, and helps reposition the jaw to ease strain. The device also places a barrier that sits between your upper and lower sets of teeth, preventing further damage to the smile. 

Repairing Teeth 

If you have damaged teeth, we could repair them as part of your treatment. Dental bonding could correct minor damage in one visit, and we also have custom-made dental crowns. Repairing the teeth helps stop discomfort, and could lower the risk of serious complications like cavities and dental infection. If you have any questions about how we repair teeth or put a stop to bruxism, then contact our team today to learn more. A better smile in 2022 is possible! 

TALK TO YOUR DES MOINES, IA DENTIST ABOUT PREVENTIVE CARE

Our team would like to help find a solution for your bruxism to keep your smile strong. If you would like to learn more, contact your Des Moines, IA, dentist, Dr. Burds, by calling 515-244-9565.