Houston Cosmetic Dentist, Ronald W. Konig DDS, FAGD, LVIF explains that over time if the teeth fit (bad bite) together incorrectly extreme wear and damage can occur and it can destroy the enamel on our teeth. Think about how gears work, if they are not aligned the gears will break and wear prematurely and get damaged and need to be replaced.
By the same analogy, teeth can break and wear if they do not fit together properly, or from grinding and clenching. Damage will be done somewhere, sometimes the jaw joint will hurt (TMJ) , other times the muscles will be painful, and othertimes the teeth are severely damaged. With teeth, once the damage gets to the second layer of the tooth, the wear and breakage occurs faster as this much softer than the enamel.
The photo above shows a gentleman patient of ours whose teeth were being damaged due to a bad bite. His chief complaint was that his teeth were breaking and that he was biting his lips and cheeks. He also felt that he did not have a good “home” for his bite. To help him, we did not fix his teeth to his bad bite as had been done in the past. His corrected treatment was as follows:
1) Establishing a new correct physiologic bite
2) Ascertaining comfort
3) Restoring his teeth the corrected bite
4) Verifying the corrected bite with his new teeth for long term stabilization (all this is completed with computer assisted technology)
This treatment allowed him to be able to smile, chew, and function in good health. An additional benefit is that he looks much younger and the lower 1/3 was elongated for a “non-surgical facelift”.
If you have questions about Houston Cosmetic Dentistry or Houston TMJ, please feel free to call our office, 713-668-2289.
“>
