TMJ disorder and bruxism are two different oral health issues that can occur due to strain on your jaw joints. Without treatment, these issues could cause jaw pain, headaches, and even damage to the teeth. However, we can help! In today’s blog, your Overland Park, KS, dentist talks about how we treat issues like TMJ disorder and bruxism.
TMJ Disorder
Let’s first talk about TMJ disorder, also known as TMD. This disorder occurs when the jaw joints undergo excessive amounts of stress. When this happens, this can alter how you open and close your mouth and lead to major discomfort. Factors behind the disorder include tooth loss, injury to the face or jaw, misalignment, wisdom tooth eruption, or complications with the growth of the smile and the eruption of your teeth. You could experience popping or clicking in your jaw, headaches, migraines, and jaw and facial pain.
Bruxism
Bruxism means you grind or clench your teeth on a nightly basis, and could be due to high stress levels, misalignment, injury to the face or jaw, tooth loss, untreated TMD, and other factors. Without treatment, this could wear down teeth and even crack or chip them, which not only changes the appearance of your smile, but increases the risks of tooth decay and infection. Warning signs include pain in the teeth, sensitivity that doesn’t pass after a day or two, pain in the face or bite, and headaches and migraines.
Treatment with an Oral Appliance
Don’t ignore the persistent pain in your face or head, instead see our team for a diagnosis so we can decide if you need treatment. We will examine your smile with digital x-rays and intraoral cameras, so we can assess the cause and severity of your TMD or bruxism. From there, we can choose treatment options. In most cases, we opt for an oral appliance that is custom-fitted for your smile and looks like a mouthguard. This is worn at night and repositions the bite to ease strain on the joints, so you avoid TMD symptoms. This also puts a barrier between the upper and lower teeth to prevent further damage from teeth grinding episodes. If you have sustained damage due to these disorders, we can often repair your tooth with dental bonding or even a custom-made crown.
If you have any questions about how we boost bite balance and treat these issues with an oral appliance, then contact our team today to learn more.
Schedule An Appointment for Improving Bite Balance
We want to offer noninvasive and comfortable treatment to help improve overall bite balance and ease joint strain. To schedule an appointment for an oral appliance with Family First Dental in Overland Park, KS, call 913-381-2600.