Dental Disasters in Your Sleep

Practically everyone grinds his/her teeth, but most people do not feel it or even know it. The greatest destruction takes place at night in your sleep making it a hard habit to break. Believe it or not, a person can exert up to 750 pounds of pressure per square inch while grinding and gritting their teeth at night. Severe teeth grinding is a medical condition known as bruxism.

There are many telltale signs that indicate you might be grinding your teeth at night. The symptoms include waking up with a dull or severe headache or waking up with a sore jaw or sore teeth. You also might have chewing muscles that are tight or tense. You would be amazed to see a movie with sound effects of someone sleeping, grinding away.

Grinding the teeth causes abnormal wear; cracks are started by grinding and might lead to loss of a tooth. Fillings can break, and chewing can bring on pain and discomfort. The overworked jaws can result in muscle spasms causing unexplainable headaches. By some accounts, severe teeth grinding can wear away enamel up to ten times faster than normal.

While nighttime grinding is a hard habit to break, there is something that most people can do to reduce the damage. The answer is a preventive measure referred to as the nightguard. The nightguard is a clear acrylic form that fits over your upper teeth. The hardness of the acrylic is sufficient to provide a bite that feels like natural teeth. On the other hand, a soft material might feel chewy and stimulate more grinding. You wear it at night so that when you grit and grind, you wear out the nightguard and save your teeth. The nightguard can be likened to shock absorbers on a car.

Making a nightguard requires an appointment for new impressions and casts of the upper and lower teeth. These casts are sent to the laboratory and mounted on a mechanical jaw. Following the doctor’s prescription a pattern is sculpted from wax. Then a mold is produced for casting the acrylic from the pattern. At a second appointment the finished acrylic nightguard is fitted and adjusted.

Wearing a nightguard often provides relief from migraine headaches and helps stop tooth wear due to grinding and clenching. If you do not know whether or not you are a grinder, then ask your dentist to check your bite. Taking immediate steps can lessen the possibility of severe dental problems in the future.

Dr. Warlick has been practicing dentistry in Wimberley since 1979. He is Managing Director for the Family Dental Center, providing children and adults with full service dentistry. The Family Dental Center is located in Wimberley, Texas at 14305 North Ranch Road 12 – (512) 847-3556.

C: Hill Country News – Dental Disasters in Your Sleep