General Dentist, Inverness, AL
Posted on 15. May, 2010 by Dr. G in General Dentistry
If you’ve ever had a filling or crown done before then you have probably had your bite adjusted at the end of the appointment. The dental assistant puts a piece of blue paper called articulating paper in your mouth, asks you to bite together, chew side to side, then the dentist adjusts your tooth, rinse and repeat until your bite “feels right.” This can be a tedious process that lasts more than just a few seconds and takes place after your filling is already done. So, what are we doing, and why is it so important anyway?
The term dentists use to describe the way the upper and lower teeth come together is occlusion. Your occlusion is complex, dynamic and dependent on many factors which work together to maintain a healthy balance. One slight alteration in any of these factors can have an exaggerated effect on the whole. For example, if you are under stress and you grind your teeth either at night or during the day, it can have an affect not only your teeth, but also your jaw joint, facial muscles, gums, even the nerves in your teeth and face.
To help you understand this better, let’s look at what factors play into your bite. First, you have the upper and lower teeth, rooted in your upper and lower jaw bones. These teeth each have nerves within them that allow you to feel hot and cold and alert you when you are chewing something too hard. Between the upper and lower jaw, there exists a hinge, known as your temporomandibular joint or TMJ. This hinge allows you to move your lower jaw from your skull. Also, there is a disc or piece of cartilage in the joint. This disc can wear thin over time or slip just as the cartilage in your knee or elbow joint can. Lastly, there are muscles in your face that control your jaw movements. These muscles can become overworked and sore when too much stress is put on them, just as the muscles in the rest of your body can get sore after a workout or injury.
When you have a high spot on a filling or crown, the brunt of your chewing force, which is quite strong, is taken by that one tooth instead of being distributed among all of your teeth, which then causes inflammation in the surrounding area of the tooth and root. This results in a distressed nerve. The only way the nerve can respond is by producing sensitivity to cold and biting. Therefore, the first time you bite into something hard or cold water hits that bruised tooth, you feel a painful sensation. This pain is usually transient and goes away as soon as the water warms up or is swallowed. If the pain lingers, it can mean there is a problem with the nerve and may the tooth may need further attention.
High spots left untreated can cause permanent damage to the tooth and can result in root canal treatment and/or a crown. The fix is very simple, a few more rounds of tapping on articulating paper and a little adjusting and the balance will be restored once again.
Dentist Chelsea, AL
Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Dr. G in Blog
First of all, thank you for visiting the website. I hope it proves to be informative while also being enjoyable. This blog will be written by me and the entries will be updated periodically. I will write about current dental topics, post articles or explain procedures that we do here at Narrows Family Dentistry and even some that we do not do here, but that we sometimes recommend to our patients. Please leave comments and questions in our contact section. I would love to answer them and take ideas for future posts. Thanks again!