Did you know that if you clench or grind (bruxism) your teeth, not only does it wear down your teeth, but can cause migraines and headaches? If notice that you are waking up with tense or sore muscles around the jaw and temple areas, this can indicate that you are clenching during your sleep.
Studies show that wearing a special dental splint can reduce clenching forces up to 70%. This results in less muscle fatigue in the jaws and skull. Unfortunately, these types of splints are not available over-the-counter and must be prescribed by your dentist or medical doctor. At Newport Beach Dental Studio, we provide a variety of splints and night guards to suit your needs. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all splint. Contact Dr. Ha to schedule an appointment for a consultation to see if you are a candidate for splint therapy to help alleviate your headaches or migraines.
Splint Therapy Can Protect Your Teeth
If you’ve noticed that your teeth are chipping, worn down to the yellow dentin layer, look flat, or your significant other has mentioned to you that you grind your teeth at night, chances are you are a candidate for splint therapy. When we sleep, we have no control over our jaw muscles and for some, this can cause heavy grinding of the teeth, resulting in premature wear of your dentition and can cause serious problems in the future that include sensitive, weakened, and broken teeth. Wearing a dental splint (also known as a night guard), will protect your teeth from this premature wear and can save you thousands of dollars in dental work and jaw issues. Depending on the situation, splints can help patients by stabilizing their teeth as well as the jaw joint (TMJ) and can prevent further propagation of jaw issues (TMD).
Customized Solutions to Alleviate Jaw Pain, Headaches, and Teeth Wear
Depending on your symptoms, a specialized guard is designed to help alleviate your conditions. Unfortunately, there is no “one-size-fits-all” splint. Depending on our diagnosis, we will be able to provide you with the correct style of guard or splint. We now offer QuickSplint; an immediate, interim, same-day splint that will help you transition into a permanent guard.