TMD Treatment / Teeth Grinding in Cincinnati, OH

The subject of TMJ and bruxism or teeth grinding is really something that's been a problem for dentistry for a long time. People grind their teeth for a variety of reasons. People have TMJ symptoms for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it can be pretty challenging to really figure out what's going on. Some people need Invisalign because their bite's off. The bite being off is causing the teeth grinding. It's causing spasm of the muscles and kind of throwing the whole system off.

In some cases, it can be kind of an acute situation where maybe we have to use a bite plane, kind of like a neck guard, to even out the bite and kind of give the muscles some relief, if you will. Sometimes there's medication involved. It's a real problem for a lot of people. I always joke with patients when I look at their teeth and say, I think you grind your teeth, and they're, No, I don't grind my teeth. I'm like, Well look at them. There has to be a reason. Something's going on here.

A lot of times it's kind of underground. They really don't know they're doing it. There's really no symptoms. Sometimes people get sensitivity of their teeth maybe, but a lot of times it kind of goes under the radar, and if you don't catch it early enough, you only get one layer of enamel. Once it's gone, then there's some issues. So treating it early is really a good idea.

So patients that have chronic jaw pain, it's a challenging situation because it's multifactorial. So one of the most important aspects of treatment is to take the time to listen to the patient, listen to their symptoms, listen to their history of how things have evolved over years to really come up with an effective treatment plan. On the more simplistic, straightforward, an occasional grinder might need something as simple as just a night guard to wear to protect their teeth and to help control the harmful outcome as far as their jaw joints with grinding.

You can have people that have had a very destructive habit of clenching and grinding, really destroying their teeth significantly. Along with jaw joint problems, that person might need orthodontic intervention to make their bite in a comfortable position for that patient. And then they might need restoration work of the teeth that had been damaged over a time. So it's a very multifactorial type of a situation. So the important thing is to take the time and be careful in listening to the patient in developing a plan that you knows can be successful for them.