Park Ridge Implant Dentists Take a Look at Teeth-Grinding

Are your habits negating all the work you put into your daily dental hygiene routine? You might be aware that eating too much candy and other sweets is a pretty bad habit for your teeth, but some unconscious habits can destroy your teeth without you realizing what’s happening. Your Park Ridge implant dentists, Dr. Maria and Dr. Thanasi Loukas, explore one of these habits—teeth-grinding—and how it can lead to the destruction of your smile.

The Damages of Teeth-Grinding

Habitual teeth-grinding, or bruxism, can result from a number of reasons, such as excessive stress, malocclusion, or TMJ disorder. As the strongest part of your body, healthy teeth are designed to withstand the pressures of everyday biting and chewing. The constant and consistent friction of teeth-grinding can quickly wear down and fracture your tooth structure. Being consciously aware of the habit can help you identify and stop instances of teeth-grinding; unfortunately, the habit most often occurs while you’re sleeping. If Dr. Loukas notices damage consistent with bruxism during your dental exam, then you may benefit from a sleepguard, which is designed to prevent your teeth from contacting each other while you sleep.

Restoring Severely Damaged Teeth

Aside from preventive sleepguards, Dr. Maria and Dr. Thanasi Loukas also offer a wide range of treatment options depending on the amount of damage that your teeth sustain from bruxism. In extreme cases, a severely damaged tooth may require extraction and replacement for your smile to continue functioning properly. To help ensure that your replacement tooth looks and functions as well as your natural teeth, your Park Ridge dentists may recommend supporting your new tooth on a dental implant (a surgically-inserted prosthetic tooth root). For your new tooth to prove effective, however, diagnosing and treating the cause behind your bruxism is necessary to prevent damage to your dental replacement.

Learn More from Your Park Ridge Implant Dentists

To learn more about teeth-grinding and how to treat it, schedule an appointment with your Park Ridge implant dentists by calling Loukas General Dentistry at (847) 696-1919. Located in the 60068 area, we proudly serve patients from Park Ridge and the surrounding Chicago communities.