Teeth grinding causes significant damage to your teeth. When you have lost some of your natural teeth and replaced them with dentures, grinding can still damage them. Your dentures can get damaged in various ways when you grind your teeth.
Daytime Grinding
Most people think teeth grinding can only happen at night when asleep. The truth is, some people can unconsciously clench their teeth during the day. Having chewing muscles that clamp down extremely hard can damage dentures. Continued grinding can wear down your dentures faster than normal. Besides, activities like biting down into hard substances like ice can also cause significant damage to your dentures. Combined with grinding, such activities will cause excessive damage to your dentures.
Sleep Bruxism
When going to bed, most people take out their dentures. While this can help prevent any damage that might be caused by bruxism, there are other risks posed by grinding. Even though your dentures will not wear down or break, sleep bruxism will damage the jaw and gums. This can lead to dentures not fitting properly, affecting their usage. As a result, your dentures will wear out unevenly when put back in.
To prevent the damage caused by grinding to your dentures, there are various things denture wearers can do. For instance, dental appliances can help prevent damage to your jaw and gums when sleeping. Besides, our dentists can reinforce the dentures and put them back in the right spot. Continued use of damaged dentures will do more harm than good. It can affect your gums and cause pain in the surrounding teeth. If the problem is not addressed, you could suffer from conditions like gum disease and tooth decay. Visit our offices for more information on how teeth grinding can damage your dentures.
Merritt Island