From biting fingernails to smoking cigarettes, people turn to all sorts of bad habits to deal with different stressors in their life. One of these bad habits that can be detrimental to your oral health and success of your dental implants is bruxism. Bruxism or teeth grinding can often be the very reason people deal with missing or chipped teeth and unfortunately, it can be also be the reason your dental implants fail. Dental implant failure isn’t always inevitable for those dealing with bruxism and can be dependent on several factors of a patient. Today, Dr. Brian Saby is blogging from Red Deer, AB to explain bruxism and the effect it can have on the dental implant process.
Grinding of the Teeth
This bad habit isn’t uncommon and it affects approximately 8-10% of the population. Teeth grinding can occur when people are awake and unconscious, and it can be caused by a variety of factors. Grinding can typically occur because stress, anxiety, abnormal bites, crooked teeth or sleep apnea. Your teeth can pay a heavy price for teeth grinding including fracturing, loosening or tooth loss. Other problems caused by bruxism can include headaches, jaw pain and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
The Effect of Bruxism on Dental Implants
Like the effect bruxism has on your natural teeth, dental implants can gradually be worn down from constant teeth grinding. Bruxism can be even more detrimental to patients in the healing process while osseointegration occurs. Osseointegration is the fusion of the implant to the jawbone and is the most important part of the dental implant process. During this time, it is crucial to avoid excessive amounts of pressure on the area. If bruxism is severe enough, the healing process around the implant may fail.
You can still be a candidate for dental implants if you are affected by bruxism. The most important qualifying factor of a patient is having sufficient bone density and gum tissue to support the implant, so teeth grinding doesn’t disqualify you from going through the dental implant process. However, your treatment may be changed a bit if you are a teeth grinder. Depending on your specific case, we may recommend you wear a mouthguard at night if you are grinding your teeth in your sleep. If you are grinding your teeth due to stress, you should look into stress management techniques to minimize the amount of pressure you’re putting on your teeth.
Contact our Office in Red Deer, AB
Your teeth grinding can be minimized depending on the root causes. Contact our office to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation to see how your bruxism can be managed with dental implants or going through the dental implant process. Bruxism can be damaging to your teeth but it doesn’t have to disqualify you from using dental implants to deal with your missing teeth. Take the first step to getting back your confident smile and contact our office.