A bite splint (mouthguard) is a custom made appliance to help your jaws and teeth function in a more natural manner. Many people experience tender or sore jaw muscles, difficulty in opening or closing their mouth, frequent headaches or a clicking or grinding noise when chewing or yawning. In some cases, the teeth are worn down or tender.
Your bite splint is made to fit over the biting surfaces of your lower jaw, allowing you to bite against the splint rather than your teeth. This will lessen the forces applied to your teeth while biting down, and it helps your jaw joints and muscles to relax. Once this is the case, most of the above-listed symptoms are either gone or, at least, better.
To monitor your progress we will need to do periodic evaluations and possibly make adjustments.
Sometimes grinding or clenching is caused by stress in our daily lives. In other cases, we will identify areas where your teeth don’t fit in a position where your jaw muscles are most comfortable. By making selective adjustments to your teeth we can improve this to a point the situation gets more stable. This process is comparable to physiotherapy which will take some time.
If you have any questions please call the office at your convenience.
