Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD or TMJ) are very common, and many Americans experience some TMD pain at some point in their lives. It can be as innocuous as a mildly distracting throb in the jaw. It can also be as debilitating as a severe migraine or the inability to comfortably chew food.

How can one small joint cause all this trouble? While relatively small, the temporomandibular joint connects your jaw to the rest of your skull. It works like a hinge, allowing you to open and close your mouth…and when it doesn’t work properly, it can be devastating.

Dentists aren’t exactly sure why Temporomandibular Joint pain is so common, but they put the blame on everything from crooked teeth to tight neck muscles to the habit of teeth grinding.

If you are an adult over the age of 30, then you’ll remember that when you were growing up, there were only two options if your teeth were crooked. Either your orthodontist strapped you into big, gawky metal braces or your teeth stayed crooked forever.

Now, when you bring your children to the orthodontist, you may be surprised to discover that you have multiple types of braces to choose from. For starters, the metal braces are still around, but they are smaller now, and kids can pick the colors of their bands. Metal braces are the simplest and cheapest way to go.

If you don’t mind paying a little more, your child can choose ceramic braces with clear or tooth-colored brackets. These braces blend in much better with the teeth, though they can become stained if your children don’t take good care of them.

A final option is Invisalign, a series of 18 to 30 custom-made plastic aligners that nudge the teeth into place.  

If you are one of millions of Americans who suffer from sleep apnea, then treatment is crucial for your health. Without some kind of intervention, you could stop breathing hundreds of times a night, causing you to wake up exhausted in the morning.

The most common treatment for mild to severe sleep apnea is the use of a Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure (CPAP) machine, which provides slightly pressurized air through a mask that keeps the your airway open. Though CPAP is a very successful intervention, you may find the mask and its straps uncomfortable to wear. If you can’t find the right adjustment or have trouble falling asleep, you may want to try another solution for sleep apnea.

The NFL football season is in full swing, or shall we say, full smash. Part of the appeal of football is the sport’s unapologetic aggression, as players tackle, bump, block, and sack each other.

But things are changing. Over the past few years, football at every level -- from professional to Pop Warner -- has been forced to address growing concerns surrounding the frequency of concussions and the consequent long-term mental health risk.

Viewers at home have surely noticed how quickly players are taken off the field if a concussion is even suspected. Parents of players will notice more specialized (and expensive) helmets on the market geared toward preventing concussions. Even the lowly mouth bite guard has been studied to see if it might provide some answers in concussion prevention.

So far, evidence that mouth bite guards help prevent concussions or lessen their severity is scarce, but several small studies have offered promising results.   

Learn to Select the Ideal Sleep Appliance for your OSA Patients

WEBINAR: Thursday, November 19th — 6pm CDT 

Featuring Scott Veis & Rob Suter

You’re invited to Join OSA University for a Webinar on Learning to Select the Ideal Sleep Appliance for your OSA Patients.

Pre-Crimped, Pre-Contoured and Affordably Priced, SML STAINLESS-STEEL PEDO CROWNS are constructed of the highest quality medical-grade stainless steel.

A dentist is trained to tell early on if a young patient is developing dentoalveolar, skeletal, or neuromuscular imbalances. In spite of the fact that young children are not the most compliant of patients, this type of issue needs to be treated as early as possible.

The Frankel III device has shown an effective ability to influence arch development by changing the pressure created by surrounding soft tissue. The device is made up of a system of oral screens, which lie in the vestibule of the mouth. The vestibular shields and upper labial pads work to counteract the forces of the surrounding musculature that often restrict forward maxillary skeletal development and cause a retrusion of the maxillary anteriors.

Dentists have often observed that compliance with the Frankell III is relatively high, even in young children. Because device effectiveness depends upon a growing mouth, it is best used before the permanent bicuspids and cuspids come down.

At SML (Space Maintainers Laboratories), our network of dental labs can manufacture Frankel III devices for your young patients. Contact us today to learn more.  

Thumb sucking is cute…for a while. After a certain age, however, a thumb or finger habit can actually begin to dangerously disrupt tooth growth -- especially when baby teeth fall out and permanent adult teeth begin to grow in. Many adults today have less-than-pleasant memories of methods used to prevent thumb sucking – scoldings, slathered-on coats of bitter-tasting liquid… even corporal punishment.

Today, parents don’t need to punish or torture children to get rid of thumb sucking or a finger habit. Take your child to the dentist!

Your local dentist can fit your child with a special appliance, like the Blue Grass Appliance U. This innovative and simple appliance features a spinning roller that sits behind the bottom teeth. The roller makes it impossible for a child to suck her thumb, but she’ll soon discover that she can spin the roller with her tongue.  

We all have different ways of dealing with stress, anxiety, and boredom. Some of us develop unpleasant habits like nail biting, knuckle cracking, lip sucking, or lip biting. In its most advanced stages, lip biting can leave you with chronically cracked, flaking and bleeding lips. Not a very pleasant visage to show to the world!

Unfortunately, habits can prove extremely difficult to break. We tend to fall into habits unconsciously, especially in times of stress when our self-control is lowest …and we can’t always be counted on to quit “cold turkey.”

When it comes to lip sucking and lip biting, a simple customized dental device can help you break your habit. The Lip Biting Inhibitor is a removable device that places a thin, plastic shield on the outside of your bottom and/or top teeth. This shield pushes your lips out slightly so that you cannot capture them between your teeth. No more sucking or biting.

Dentists and orthodontists provide their patients with many different custom appliances. Many practices cannot afford or accommodate their own in-house appliance manufacturing operation. They frequently (and wisely) rely on an outside dental lab.

Having a long-term relationship with a dental lab can save you considerable time and money. For instance, retainers don’t last forever, and chances are, many of your patients will need a new one on a regular basis. When you have a strong, trusting relationship with your dental lab, they will be able to save you valuable chair time, lab time and fabrication expense.

If you aren’t happy with your current dental lab’s service or quality, consider switching to SML Global. We have developed a network of high-quality dental labs around the world.