p>Dental splints continue to be one of the most effective ways to manage bruxism. Yet, although it may seem simple enough to pop in a dental splint at night, you will likely find that a certain portion of your patients find even that simple act of compliance a challenge. They may find the splints to be uncomfortable, inconvenient, or simply forget to put them in.

One way to help these individuals become more compliant is to challenge them to wear the splint each night for 30 days…and track their progress. After 30 days of carefully monitored compliance and accountability, the action becomes automatic…and the benefits more evident.   

Having touched earlier in this series upon fixed final retention options, it would be remiss not to give equal time to removable options.

That being said, removable retention appliances – when properly designed to not interfere with normal occlusion – are not only the most hygienic option (allowing patient to floss and brush freely) but can also be worn 24/7 if need be.

Another plus? When bruxism is part of the treatment scenario, a bruxism splint can be employed as a final retainer.

SOME OPTIONS:

The Wraparound Hawley 

Sleep apnea steals precious sleep, but it also steals something much more valuable: oxygen. According to the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, sleep apnea steals sleep and oxygen from as many as 18 million Americans. Individuals with sleep apnea can stop breathing as many as 100 times a night or more, depriving the body of vital oxygen.

Your brain thrives on oxygen. In fact, it uses approximately three times the amount of oxygen that muscles do. And because brain cells are highly sensitive to drops in oxygen, they begin to die soon after deprivation.

Your child’s teeth are important, even if they still have their baby teeth. Getting a hit straight to the mouth can push teeth out of position, which can affect the growth of adult teeth. If your child has shed their baby teeth, then a mouth guard becomes even more important to protect their permanent teeth from damage during sports. When should you consider buying a mouth guard for your children?

The U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association requires a mouth guard for certain sports, including football, hockey, and lacrosse. The American Dental Association goes much further, suggesting a mouth guard for basketball, boxing, gymnastics, martial arts, rugby, skateboarding, soccer, wrestling, and more!

If you are considering buying a mouth guard for children, don’t just stop in at your local sporting goods store. Visit your dentist! Your dentist can manufacture a custom-fit mouth guard that can do a much better job of protecting your child’s precious teeth. 

When you think of tooth loss, the image that comes to mind may be that of tucking a baby tooth under your pillow at night, hoping for the tooth fairy to replace it with something spendable. You might picture your grandparents placing their dentures in cleaning solution on the bathroom sink each night. That’s a sobering image.

The fact is, while often associated with the very young or the very old, premature tooth loss can occur at any age – and is more common than you think. A bad fall.  

Ready to expand your practice and improve your cash flow? One way to do that is to offer more services. In particular, pediatric dentistry may allow you to offer a wider range of services for children who are more likely than adults to have dental insurance coverage. Children can face a range of dental needs, including space maintenance, space regaining, arch development, and habit control.

In order to expand your pediatric dental offerings, you will need to find a reliable source of high quality pediatric dental appliances.  

Most of us think about mouth guards in relation to high impact sports, like football, wrestling, boxing, and basketball. In these instances, mouth guards can protect teeth from the impact of a stray elbow or knee. For many Americans, however, the greatest risk of tooth destruction comes from grinding, also known as bruxism.

Though some people grind their teeth out of habit during times of stress, anxiety, or boredom, most bruxism sufferers have no idea of their affliction. That’s because they tend to grind their teeth in their sleep. Over time, teeth grinding can wear away the enamel on teeth and cause chronic headaches and jaw pain.

One very simple solution to decreasing teeth trauma and alleviating the symptoms of bruxism is for a person to simply use a mouth guard. Just as it protects teeth in contact sports, a custom-fitted mouth guard can also protect teeth from grinding to decrease trauma. If you suspect that you grind your teeth at night, talk to your dentist about ordering a custom-fitted mouth guard. 

I think it would be safe to say that 75 – 80% of all patients experience some relapse or crowding long term, when they stop wearing their retainer(s). Patients always want to know why. So, for the purposes of this blog, here is a sampling of potential causes:

• Insufficient airway
• Mouth breathing
• Tongue position and habits
• Forces created by speech
• Aberrant Swallowing
• Finger habits
• Chewing on pens
• Straight teeth but deficient arch width and/or length
• Extraction treatment
• Severity of the malocclusion prior to treatment
• Bruxing
• Age of patient at time of treatment
• Mesial driving forces of 2^nd and 3^rd molars
• Lack of vertical dimension