Teeth Grinding:Effects and treatment

                            Have you ever told you grind teeth at nights even without your knowledge?

Do you wake up with pain in the jaws?Do you have tooth worn?or loose ?or broken?IF so, you have teeth grinding or teeth clenching which in medical terms is called Bruxism.Mostly Bruxism is an unconscious habit , you clench your teeth or grind unintentionally at inappropriate times. Bruxers usually don't realize until enough damage has already been done to teeth and jaw.
                            The common cause for bruxism is stress and anxiety.Other cause is abnormal alignment of upper and lower teeth .                                                                                                              

Teeth grinding-Bruxism

Signs and symptoms:

• Dull ,constant headache or sore jaw when you wake up is the common symptom
• Teeth appears fractured or flat due to wearing
•  Receding gums 
•  Loose teeth 
•  Sensitivity
•  Jaw pain
•  Ear pain         
•  Jaw muscles get bigger and thicker         
• Clicking sound in head-skull joint                                                                                                              

  

  wearing of teeth,receding gums

   

Treating Bruxism:

                         The goals of treatment include reducing the stress, removing the pain,preventing the permanent damage to teeth and to reduce the actual clenching.

                          Stress counseling,meditation,exercise,visiting a therapist help in managing stress

                          Prescribing muscle relaxants and treating the cause will reduce the pain

                          Avoiding alcohol, caffeine,chewing gum and relaxing your face often is recommended.

                          Most common treatment is the use of occlusal splint known as mouth guard or night guard.This will protect the teeth from wearing off                                                                                                                                            

Using night guards

                          Correction of mal-aligned teeth by relieving high or stress points.
                          The use of mouth guard is a conventional treatment for bruxism.The recent advancement in use of Botox injection.Botox injection commonly used with cosmetic procedure now aid in keeping bruxism under control.Although mouth guards protect the teeth successfully from damage during nights,they fail stopping the painful effects of tooth grinding unlike botox.

Help from botox:

                           Botox is injected to the largest muscle that is associated with the movement of the jaw.This will weaken the muscle enough to stop the involuntary teeth grinding and thus significantly reduces the damaging effect on teeth and jaw.Need not worry about the voluntary movments such as chewing and smiling as botox dont affect them.Botox don't serve complete cure for bruxism but effective than nightguards in reducing the uncomfortable symptoms.The botox shot given renders its help for 3-4 months.

Know about Bruxzir:
                           Dental treatment such as filling and crowns becomes  a challenge to bruxers,as anything thats been put will be ground off.In that case....Newer advancement of crowns for bruxers is a solid zirconia crowns called BRUXZIR.The advantages of Bruxzir crown are it is cosmetically superior and does not chip with the biting forces by bruxers as well.


For further queries contact-Gums and Teeth lazer dental clinic,Medavakkam,chennai-100
                           Phone no.-9962497766
                            Email-care@gumsandteeth.in