The majority of our clients here at our Palm Beach Gardens dental practice are increasingly taking advantage of dental implants for their tooth replacement needs. Aside from looking like your natural teeth, dental implants have proven to support a client’s active lifestyle and significantly improve quality of life. After all, dental implants are already employed and used for tooth replacement for more than 5 decades now.
To maximize success of your dental implant outcome here at our practice, it’s important to know which conditions may compromise the state of your dental implants. One such issue is bruxism or unconsciously grinding your teeth.
Bruxism (Teeth Grinding) May Affect Dental Implant Outcomes
Just as bruxism alone could accelerate wear and tear of your natural teeth, it can also promote premature wear and tear of dental prosthetics such as your dental implants. Specifically, the implant’s titanium post may be exposed to the damaging forces of your frequent tooth grinding. Although dental implants are actually built to last for a long time, untreated tooth grinding may potentially disrupt the implant and/or its components.
Figuring Out Whether You Have Bruxism or Not
It is estimated that roughly 95 percent of Americans are not aware of their teeth grinding habits, particularly when they’re still asleep. So what are the signs and symptoms that could help you figure out whether you are unconsciously grinding your teeth? You might want to look out for the following:
- Jaw pain
- Headaches upon waking up
- Neck and shoulder pain upon waking up
- Tooth damage
Exploring Treatment Options for Your Bruxism Before Having Dental Implants
Assessing whether your have bruxism and exploring your treatment options are part of your evaluation prior to having dental implants here at our dental practice. We will discuss your options in reducing or eliminating bruxism — from wearing mouthguards at night to practicing stress management techniques. Putting bruxism under control should be the priority to avoid the risk of damaging your dental prosthetics.
Get in touch with us today if you’d like to learn more about dental implants. Contact Drs. Lerner and Lemongello for an appointment and information on all dental procedures at 561-627-9000 or you can fill out this contact form. We’d love to hear from you!