TMJ, Splint, and Sleep Apnea Therapy Archives - Page 3 of 3

Quit Clenching and Grinding and Get the Facts about Bruxism

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

Do you ever wake up with a dull ache in your jaw? Or, after a stressful day at work, do you find you’re always fighting a headache right at your temples? Chances are you didn’t sleep on your jaw funny or have a tension headache. You likely are clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth.

Dentists call clenching or grinding of the teeth bruxism. Most people do not even know they have it, as they might not be conscious of the fact they’re clenching their jaw during the day or grinding their teeth at night. And while many cases of bruxism are mild, some can be severe—and painful.

Severe bruxism can cause damage to your teeth and even cause your jaw to become unaligned. Clenching and grinding your teeth can also do damage to crowns and other dental work. That’s why it’s a good idea to talk with us if you suspect you’re clenching or grinding.

Bruxism: Causes

Dentists and doctors are not sure what causes bruxism, but we have some informed guesses. The cause may be physiological, such as abnormal alignment of your upper and lower teeth. But emotions such as stress, anxiety, anger, and frustration might also cause people to clench and grind their teeth.

Bruxism: Know the Signs

It’s not always possible to catch yourself grinding or clenching your teeth. But you can watch out for some of the physical signs that point to bruxism. Here is a short list of symptoms to look out for:

chipped, loose, flat, fractured, or worn teeth
damage to cheek tissue
headache or earache
indentations on your tongue
jaw does not open or close completely
tired or tight jaw muscles
tooth sensitivity
worn tooth enamel

If you notice any of these symptoms, it’s time to schedule a dentist’s appointment with Eggert Family Dentistry. We’ll give you tips you can use at home to alleviate the discomfort bruxism causes. In more severe cases, we may recommend fitting you for a splint or night guard to protect your teeth while you sleep. In extreme cases, we may recommend correcting misaligned teeth with orthodontics.

Think you or a loved one are clenching and grinding? Schedule an appointment to find out. Email Eggert Family Dentistry or call (651) 482-8412 today.

Why Is Your Dentist Recommending a Splint or Night Guard?

By: Dr Elizabeth Eggert

Night Guard We’ve all experienced the way stress manifests itself in our bodies. Tension headaches are just one common example. But many of us hold stress in our jaws or relieve stress by grinding our teeth. We might not even know we’re doing so, leading to discomfort and pain down the road.

Habitual clenching or grinding can cause a variety of problems with your jaw and teeth. It can overwork your muscles and periodontal ligaments, cause pain, and overstress your teeth. In extreme cases, forceful and repetitive clenching and grinding may even break teeth. Clenching and grinding can also overstress and cause pain and damage to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). To avoid these painful conditions, our dentists at Eggert Family Dentistry may recommend that you be fitted for a splint or night guard.

What does a splint or night guard prevent?

Splints and night guards protect your teeth and jaw from bruxism. Bruxism is the involuntary grinding of your teeth or clenching of your jaw. Clenching and grinding can occur during the day or night. Most people are not aware they even grind or clench.

But we are able to see the evidence of bruxism during your check-ups. We see patterns in the wear of your teeth and might notice you have highly developed jaw-closing muscles. In these cases, we might recommend splint therapy.

What is splint therapy?

Splint therapy, changes the position of your jaw to a relaxed muscle position by creating stable muscles and jaw joints. We use several different tools in splint therapy, including a Lucia Jig, an anterior deprogrammer, or a TMJ splint. Splint therapy may last a number of weeks or months, during which you come in for regular therapy appointments.

In an ideal situation, the teeth can then be changed to fit together at the same position where the jaw is relaxed. There are three typical methods to help this occur: equilibration of the teeth, orthodontics, or dental restorations. Some people elect not to change their teeth and to continue with their splint only. In these cases, sometimes the muscles stay stable with only night-time use of the splint.

What about night guards?

Night guards are appliances you wear while you sleep. A guard fits over your teeth and prevents them from grinding together. Though you can buy moldable night guards at the pharmacy, investing in a custom night guard we create ensures your appliance fits comfortably and correctly for years of use. The OTC night guards tend to be too bulky and often make people clench or grind even more than before. The main difference between a simple night-guard and splint therapy is that we cannot confirm that the night guard will keep you in your most relaxed muscle position.

It’s important that you take your dentist’s recommendation for splint therapy or night guards seriously. When left untreated, clenching and grinding can cause oral health issues down the road. If you suspect you clench your jaw or grind your teeth while you sleep or anytime, contact Eggert Family Dentistry today. Call (651) 482-8412.

Snore no More – An Easy Fix for a Great Night’s Sleep

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

Snore no More – An Easy Fix for a Great Night’s Sleep

We live in a society that is in critical need of sleep.

Sleep behaviors affect every aspect of your daily life. There’s nothing like a full night of rest to help you be ready to take on the world. Unfortunately, there are probably a lot of us out there that haven’t felt that way for a while.

If you’ve lost that spring in your step (and quite possibly your family is also feeling the fallout) take a look at your sleep habits. Are any sleep problems inhibiting your ability to get in seven to eight hours of restful slumber? Is your sleep problem – snoring?

It’s very easy not to take snoring seriously. It doesn’t really affect you unless, a) it wakes you up, b) your spouse moves into another bedroom to sleep, or c) no one wants to share a hotel room during the snowmobiling trip (yes, snoring can register at 80 decibels).

Snoring, however, is a disorder.

Snoring is a sound that occurs during sleep when soft (palatal) tissue in the upper airway vibrates as you breathe. Simple snoring, without obstructive sleep apnea, affects approximately 20% of the adult population, and is more frequent in males than females. [*See our blog Dental Help for Your Sleep Apnea to learn more about sleep apnea.]

Easy solutions to curb snoring include:

losing weight (if overweight)
exercising regularly
avoiding alcohol and smoking
avoiding sleep aids
sleeping on your side

But what do you do when the snoring continues?

First, work with a sleep center to determine that you don’t have sleep apnea. It’s far too dangerous to mess around with obstructive sleep apnea.

If it is just simple snoring, the best treatment involves the use of a jaw advancing prosthesis. This “dental appliance therapy” involves the use of a small device similar to a mouthguard or an orthodontic retainer. When worn during sleep, it prevents the airway from collapsing by bringing the jaw forward, elevating the soft palate, or retaining the tongue.

Dental appliances are an inexpensive and non-invasive way to bring peace and quiet to your household. Our patients have responded extremely well when using them.

Are you ready to learn more about treatment options for snoring? Give us a call today, 651-482-8412. We’ll set you up with an appointment to go through the records process with Dr. Elizabeth to gather the required information in determining if oral appliance therapy is the right solution for you. If you’re given the green light, models of your teeth will be sent to a lab, where an oral appliance will be made specifically to your tooth contours. During the appliance fitting, there’ll be adjustments made until you have satisfaction of the appliance’s fit and feel.

And then watch out.

All that extra sleep just may offer the health changes needed to put that spring back into your step! Not to mention how much better your family will be able to sleep too.

Splint and Occlusal Therapy – Jeff’s story

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

How did this start?

Jeff came to us as an established patient at one of his routine exams. He was experiencing increasing jaw pain and was having trouble eating. He remembered having jaw pain for the past five years, but things were getting noticeably worse. Jeff was also experiencing periods of lock jaw and knew he was clenching his teeth at night. Dr. Elizabeth noted some wear throughout his mouth and intense muscle discomfort during his muscle evaluation. Dr. Elizabeth recommended Jeff go through our records process so that she could delve deeper into the underlying causes of his pain.

What did Jeff want?

Jeff had noticed a lot more pain and wear in the past few years and wanted to have his mouth comfortable again. He also wanted to be able to eat without worry. Specifically, Jeff wanted his mouth to function better. He was also experiencing some ringing in ears and hearing changes that he was hoping to have addressed during the process.

What was revealed during the records process?

Dr. Elizabeth used models, photos, and x-rays of Jeff’s teeth along with our thorough muscle and joint evaluation results to present Jeff with the current status of his teeth, gums, and the function of his jaw and muscles. The details of the records process revealed that the position of Jeff’s teeth were causing multiple interferences. This means he was biting down unevenly causing the breakdown of his teeth as well as the jaw pain. It was recommended that Jeff begin splint therapy.

What was involved?

The purpose of his splint therapy was to change the position of Jeff’s jaw to a relaxed muscle position. In Jeff’s case, we also discussed how if we adjusted the teeth to fit together at the relaxed jaw position, he should be much more stable overall and long-term. Dr. Elizabeth fitted Jeff with an anterior deprogrammer to wear all of the time to create the best possible function between the natural position of his jaw, muscles, and his teeth as they worked with one another. As soon as Jeff’s muscles reached a comfortable and relaxed position, Dr. Elizabeth created a solid new bite for Jeff with equilibration. Dr. Elizabeth adjusted the alignment of the upper and lower teeth and altered the chewing surfaces of some of the teeth to remove the painful interferences. This created harmony among Jeff’s jaw joints, muscles, and teeth as the joints and muscles were placed in a relaxed position and the teeth now come together at the same time. We finally designed a splint for Jeff to wear while he sleeps to keep his teeth, jaw, and muscles in this new comfortable position.

What does Jeff think?

“I wanted to get rid of the pain and the Records Process helped me to understand what was going on. The process was easy and simple. I’m not having pain anymore! I’m not nervous to eat anymore! I used to get excruciating pain with certain bites. This has made me a lot happier for sure. I would highly recommend the procedure!”

Dental Help for Your Sleep Apnea

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

Dental Help for Your Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder where a person’s breathing will pause anywhere from seconds to a minute. This can happen even hundreds of times per night. “Apnea” means the absence of breath. Severity levels of apnea are defined, among other variables, by the number of episodes of apnea pauses per hour of sleep. Apnea may, or may not, involve snoring.

Sleep apnea affects adults, as well as children. More occurrences happen in men and people who are 40 to 60 years old, but many women and children are also suffering from sleep disorders like apnea. Other risk factors include race/ethnicity, family history, obesity, and smoking or alcohol use.

Symptoms may include:

Pauses or periods of breathing cessation
Choking or gasping after pauses
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Morning headaches
Irritability
Depression
Attention problems
Personality changes/mood swings
Sore throat/dry mouth upon waking

Treatment of sleep apnea depends on the severity of the condition. Treatment methods can include:

Breathing Devices (CPAP)
Dental Sleep Apnea and Snoring Appliances
Orthodontic Treatment
Surgery

Yes, there are dental devices that help sleep apnea.

Dental appliances may be an option for patients who cannot tolerate CPAP. These oral appliances are useful in correcting mild to moderate cases of obstructive sleep apnea and are effective in improving airflow. Custom dental appliances are designed to enlarge the airway and prevent the airway from collapsing. The devices typically cover the upper and lower teeth and reposition the lower jaw in an advanced position. Moving the mandible forward pulls the tongue forward and opens up the airway space.

Dental appliance use for sleep apnea can result in improved sleep patterns and the reduction of snoring frequency and loudness. Research shows high success rates with the use of dental devices relative to sleep apnea.

Prior to selecting any form of treatment, patients should undergo an initial evaluation by a board certified sleep specialist practicing in a center accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. An overnight sleep study may be recommended, which will determine not only the severity of the problem but will also provide a baseline to measure any future treatment effectiveness. [Treatment measures for sleep apnea should be carefully determined as this sleeping disorder can lead to serious and sometimes debilitating consequences, including heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, congestive heart failure or diabetes. There’s also a greater risk of driving incidents or work-related accidents.]

Are you ready to get sleep apnea under control? Once you have met with your sleep MD and have undergone a sleep study, we can set you up with an appointment to go through our records process with Dr. Elizabeth. During the records process, we will verify the health of your jaw and muscles and determine if a sleep apnea appliance might work for you. If appropriate, Dr. Elizabeth will work closely with your general health practitioner, sleep physician, and lab to design a sleep apnea appliance that is just right for you. Give us a call today.

What is Occlusal and Splint Therapy?

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

What is Occlusal and Splint Therapy?

Habitual clenching or grinding of your teeth can cause a variety problems with your jaws and teeth. It can over work facial muscles and cause pain and can overstress your teeth. This can cause pain in periodontal ligaments and wear of tooth structure. In extreme cases, you can break or crack teeth by forceful and repetitive clenching and grinding. Clenching and grinding can also overstress and cause pain and damage to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).

Clenching and grinding can occur during the day or at night and most people are not aware of this habit. Problems come to light during the dental exam when we notice tooth wear or highly developed jaw muscles.

The purpose of splint therapy is to change the position of your jaw to a relaxed muscle position. In an ideal situation the teeth can be changed to fit together at the same position where the jaw is relaxed.

Do I need splint therapy?

A common reason for prescribing an occlusal splint is to protect the teeth from excessive wear. However, splints can also help reduce or eliminate headaches, cervical, neck and facial pain, or even earaches or ringing in the ears.

What can I expect from splint therapy?

Our patients have experienced dramatic changes due to splint therapy. Often, headaches disappear and muscle tensions go away. Chewing becomes easier and your jaw will probably stop making noises.

Tara J. said, “I now have less headaches, less jaw pain and it was beneficial. I would tell a friend to do the therapy!”

Splint therapy can involve the wearing of one splint or a sequence of splints and may include some of the following devices:

Lucia Jig

This small device is used as the first step in diagnosing if functional disharmony is due to the joint or the muscles and is made right in our office.

Anterior Deprogrammer

During splint therapy, an acrylic appliance is worn at all times to create the best possible function between the natural position of the jaw, muscles, and your teeth as they work with one another. The anterior deprogrammer, a partial splint, is used for muscle therapy.

TMJ Splint

The TMJ splint covers all the teeth of one arch and better addresses joint issues. It is also worn 24/7.

Upon successful completion of splint therapy (once the muscles and jaw joints are stable), teeth may fit together differently. There are three common methods, sometimes used in conjunction with each other, to realign the teeth into a more comfortable position:

Equilibration

Equilibration creates a solid bite by adjusting the alignment of the upper and lower teeth and by altering the chewing surfaces of some or all the teeth to remove interferences. This creates harmony among the jaw joints, muscles, and teeth as the joints and muscles are placed in a relaxed position and the teeth come together at the same time.

Orthodontics

Tooth movement is performed by an orthodontist, who understands jaw joint and muscle function.

Restorations

Full mouth restorations can be used to bring teeth perfectly together at the relaxed joint and muscle position.

Are occlusal and splint therapy right for you? There’s no need to suffer any longer, please give us a call today at 651-482-8412 to schedule a consultation. We can help tailor a program that’s right for you!