Your Bite

Clenching and grinding your teeth can cause all sorts of problems. It can lead to damage to your teeth, such as breakage of teeth and fillings, lost fillings, crowns coming off, loss of teeth, worn down teeth, sensitivity and loosening or movement. It can manifest as headaches, neck aches or jaw ache, a clicky jaw, or commonly you could have toothache which seems to have no cause.

Tooth clenching and grinding, often leave patients struggling with dentistry, as it causes muscle tension, meaning that it is difficult to keep your mouth open, you may retch badly, or you know that injections (particularly lower injections) do not work for you. Understandably this can make the prospect of any dentistry quite daunting.

Why do we clench or grind our teeth, particularly at night? In our experience, this is often due to your teeth not fitting comfortably together when you close your mouth. This is very common and can occur for many reasons.

What can we do about it?

At The Willows, a comfortable and protective bite is central to all that we do, and we use a combination of bite appliances and minor tooth surface adjustment (a very gentle appointment), to achieve this for you. If, at your initial consultation you give a history of any of the above issues, we can provide a full discussion and examination of your bite, with the aim of addressing these for you. Many of our patients have benefitted from this treatment, reporting that they feel more comfortable, and their various symptoms have reduced or disappeared.