Sleep. If you get it regularly and easily it’s easy to take it for granted. However, for our patients who suffer from teeth grinding or clenching, a good, restful night of sleep is extremely valuable and hard to come by. A lot of times, grinding and clenching can come as a result of misaligned teeth. That’s why we always stress the importance of our bite adjustment procedure.
Bruxism is the name of the condition when you grind or clench your teeth at night. While this condition has obvious negative side effects such as worn down or broken teeth, loss of sleep is another side effect that shouldn’t be ignored.
Why?
Losing sleep can cause you to be tired or irritable the next day. But those consequences pale in comparison to what researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found.
According to their study, fluids in your brain are able to clear out toxins through a series of channels that expand during sleep. When you are not able to get enough sleep, dangerous toxins accumulate in your brain! One such toxin found that accumulates quickly is beta-amyloid. Beta-amyloid is a toxic protein that builds up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
If you are losing sleep because of bruxism, don’t let it go untreated. Visit us for our bite adjustment procedure and finally get a good night’s sleep!
What is a Bite Adjustment?
At Buckhead Dental Partners, we can evaluate your bite to see if you are suffering from misalignment. When you have a misaligned bite, often teeth do not fit together well and cause one or more of the teeth to touch harder than they should.
Our bite adjustments re-shape your teeth so that when you bite down, your teeth are perfectly aligned.
Patients who have opted for a bite adjustment report less teeth grinding. This leads to less headaches, jaw pain and…better sleep!
What Happens During a Bite Adjustment?
Dr. Ballard will first do an evaluation of your teeth to ensure that a misaligned bite is causing the teeth grinding. Then, the teeth are measured and marked to assess the problem areas. Teeth are eventually reshaped with a dental drill. This process is usually painless because it involves removing portions of the tooth enamel which has no feeling.
Follow-up visits are suggested to monitor your progress and teeth may need more reshaping until correct alignment is achieved.
If you are suffering from teeth clenching and grinding and are not getting enough sleep as a result, visit us at Buckhead Dental Partners for our bite adjustment procedure. For more information or to schedule a consultation, call us today at 404-261-0610!
Photo Credit: Identity Station
