News and Updates – Page 3

There’s Character in a Gapped Smile… But No Health Benefits

Written by justSMILE on September 11, 2013. Posted in Cosmetic Dentistry, News and Updates.

Are you confident in your gapped smile? At Just Smile near the Sutherland Shire

we love confidence but you may be doing more damage to your smile than good.

Dental treatment allows patients to regain their ability to function orally and feel satisfied with their beautiful smile and restored confidence. Not everyone is born with straight teeth or all of their teeth for that matter and some people choose not to act on it because they feel comfortable with themselves, but to those who do nothing about this imbalance could be causing detrimental problems to their health and development.

We all lose a tooth at some stage in our lives…

Everyone loses teeth, it is a fact of life and if you are sitting there counting your teeth and thinking ‘I have never lost a tooth!’ then you have forgotten about your baby teeth! A child usually develops around twenty baby teeth by the age of three which then fall out between the ages of five and eight. This type of tooth loss is completely natural because the baby teeth need to be replaced by strong healthy adult teeth. The baby teeth act as a go between so as you develop you do not have a mouth full of uneven large teeth.

When an adult tooth is ready to erupt, your body releases a chemical to dissolve the roots allowing for the baby tooth to fall out. Depending on the reason you have missing teeth this process of releasing chemicals onto adult teeth roots should not naturally occur.

Once we lose one of our adult teeth there is no going back…

Heard of a lizard growing back its severed tail? Or a star fish growing back its severed limb? A human is incapable of regeneration so once you lose one of your adult teeth it will not grow back. A gap in your teeth can affect the harmony of your bite, speech and ability to eat and your body may react over time by:

Letting your jaw bone deteriorate from lack of anchorage
Making your existing teeth migrate to fill the void, creating a distorted bite
Gum tissue can begin to shrink away
The appearance of your face can change
Your ears, nose and face may react to the change because the facial region is all connected

This imbalance can leave you susceptible to any of the following health problems:

Gum disease
Bruxism
Deformities
Temporomandibular joint Disorder (TMD)
Enamel erosion
Inability to eat hard foods
Ear disorders
Jaw displacements and complications

Dental Implants can help you regain your lost teeth and give you even more confidence…

Making the decision to get a dental implant is the next best thing to having a natural tooth. It is a permanent, durable and aesthetically pleasing solution that allows you to regain your mouth’s full potential.

A dental implant is a titanium alloy screw that is anchored to your jaw that then has a prosthetic tooth screwed into it. The benefits of having dental implants are:

Biocompatibility will ensure your body does not reject its new tooth
Fuse to the jaw bone over time becoming a permanent part of your jaw
Regain the balance to your bite
Looks exactly like a real tooth
Functions exactly like a real tooth

At Just Smile we want to ensure our patients get treatments that ensure longevity and function to your teeth with the added bonus of making a beautiful smile, so why not boost your confidence with all the benefits of a dental implant smile today!

For more information on dental implants, or to book an appointment at our Ramsgate dental practice, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Is Stress Ruining Your Teeth While You Sleep?

Written by justSMILE on September 4, 2013. Posted in News and Updates.

In 2012 the Australian Psychological Society (APS) conducted a state-of-the-nation survey

that revealed 70% of Australian’s physical health and well-being is being affected by stress.

There is nothing like crawling into bed after a long day’s hard work and you expect some relief when you drift off to sleep but all that stress you have been carrying on your shoulders could be having a serious impact on your teeth. Stress is one of the leading causes of an unconscious nocturnal activity known as bruxism which causes many damaging side effects.

What is Bruxism?

Bruxism is Greek in origin and means ‘gnashing of the teeth’. It is an unconscious action that can cause pain and tension in your facial muscle and jaw joints as well as wear down your teeth. If left untreated it can lead to hearing loss and temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) which affects the function of your jaw. Most people are unaware they suffer from bruxism until their partners point out that they are grinding, clenching or chewing in their sleep.

If you find that you are experiencing a few or more of these symptoms, at Just Smile near the Sutherland Shire we recommend attending to the issue as soon as possible!

So why do people suffer from Bruxism?

Stress is one of the major factors that contribute to the development of bruxism, and according to the APS the following are the leading factors of stress in Australia:

Financial issues (50 % of Australians identify personal financial issues as a cause for stress)
Family issues (An average of 42.8% of ages 18 to 76+ admit to family induced stress)
Mental health issues (20% of Australians associate mental health with stress)
Australian women are surveyed to have higher levels of stress than men.

Bruxism is also closely associated with:

An abnormal and/or unaligned bite
Wisdom teeth
Missing or crooked teeth
Ear disorders and infections
Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)
Sleeping disorders such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)

That’s where we come in; at Just Smile we treat Bruxism with night guards…

Bruxism usually is disregarded because its symptoms are so common but over time it can really cause problems for not only the teeth but the whole facial region and your overall well-being. When identifying a Bruxist (suffer of bruxism), at Just Smile we like to help our clients by suggesting a custom-made night guard.

A night guard (also known as a night splint) is similar to an orthodontic retainer that cushions the gap between the top and bottom row of teeth in order to prevent grinding and restore your bite while you sleep. It is tailored to fit the groove of your teeth and is fashioned with a durable resin material.

If the bruxism is related to a bigger problem we can investigate in the underlying issues to help correct this condition. We also offer cosmetic dentistry to help those who have missing or crooked teeth if that is the reason of bruxism.

Everyone deserves to sleep easy knowing that they are not damaging their teeth…

If you think you are a Bruxist, at Just Smile we will do whatever we can to help you recover as soon as possible. By identifying the cause of your bruxism and managing it early on we can help prevent it developing into TMD or other associated disorders.

For further information about bruxism or to book an appointment at our Just Smile Ramsgate Beach practice, near the Sutherland Shire and please do not hesitate to contact us.