BRUXISM (TEETH GRINDING)

Teeth grinding and clenching caused by the activity of our masseter muscles during the day, and/or only during the night is called bruxism.

Continuous contact and force accumulation between the lower and upper jaw teeth are defined as clenching, while grinding is defined as the chewing and grinding process being continued rhythmically even when there is no food in the mouth.

Although the bruxism is seen during the day, it usually progresses at a stage when the patient is unconscious during sleeping. For this reason, most people cannot notice this situation. During the dentist examinations, worn tooth enamels, deformities in the mouth, soft tissue traumas, routine pain of the jaw joint, continuous headaches, and neck and back pain give us clues about bruxism.

Treatment of bruxism, which is easier to treat in the early stages, takes a longer time when it falls into a habit.

The long-term damage to people is greater than the teeth grinding when the teeth clenching progresses more silently and in a symptom-free manner. As the anatomy of the worn, abraded teeth deteriorates over time, the ergonomics of the mouth and teeth disappear, which negatively affects both the temporomandibular joint and the dento-facial aesthetics.

Following early destructions in the teeth, if not treated and prevented, deformities are created in the anatomical formations in the temporomandibular joint socket, and consequently spontaneous jaw dislocations may also occur.

How Is Bruxism Treated?

Protective and preventive approaches have vital importance in teeth clenching and grinding. In the traditional dentistry, we used to give patients soft plates and ask them to use these plates. The difficulty of using these plates in social life and business life decreased the applicability of this treatment protocol and had a negative effect on the success rate.

We recommended our patients who clenched their teeth only at night to use night plates. Unfortunately, a high percentage of use was not achieved in this treatment as in the soft plate application.

In today's modern dentistry, we are able to offer more precise and permanent solutions to our patients with low dose of medical injected into the Masseter muscle, the muscle that forms the chewing forces during clenching and grinding. Using a single dose of medical injection, an effective result can be achieved for 10 months on average, thus we can protect our patients from possible dental deformities and tooth losses by preventing clenching and grinding.