The vast majority of  TMJ patients are adults in the 20-50 age range. The major causes for TMJ dysfunction are accidents, crowded teeth, missing teeth and a bad bite. Regardless of the causative factors, a corrective splint or bite appliance (also called grinding appliance) is required.  It will require a custom made hard plastic appliance not a flexible one as sold in pharmacies and sporting goods stores.  Flexible ones will be “chewed” on and can cause the problem to get worse. The flexible appliances are only good for very short term relief until you can get to a dentist who treats TMJ problems. There are very few dentists trained in the treatment of true TMJ problems. We have been treating TMJ patients for 30 years, so we are well versed in all of the treatment modalities for TMJ problems.

If left untreated, the problem will get worse , it never gets better if it is a true TMJ problem. A grinding or bruxism problem is NOT a TMJ problem until the grinding problem has gone untreated for a time. So grinding and clenching problems , if treated, can be prevented from cause damage to the TMJ area.

The reason an onlay is better is that good tooth structure is saved.  The original tooth structure is superior to any man made material and so if we can save any tooth structure, the patient is far better off.  Crowns and onlays can be made out of gold, all porcelain,porcelain fused to gold, or plastics.  We use Cerec Technology ( CAD-CAM instrument) to fabricate porcelain bonded restorations in one appointment.  Bonding is superior to cementation and, since metal does not bond well to tooth structure,we choose porcelain or plastics over metal anytime.  Crowns or onlays can be done to replace large mercury fillings, resin fillings,  to repair fractured teeth or to replace existing crowns or onlays.

Unless you have this CAD-CAM technology, these procedures are much harder to do and require multiple appointments. That means more shots and temporaries in between appointments. Patients have told us they love having one appointment instead of multiple appointments because there is only one shot , no sensitivity and  less lost hours at work.

A better approach is to take advantage of the child’s growing potential  early on (6-7 yrs of age) by placing expansion retainers, grow the necessary bone and when permanent tooth is erupted, straighten the teeth with braces (metal, clear, or invisible) without extracting any teeth.

We take a panoramic x-ray of your child at age 6-8 to see if there will be crowding by looking at the developing teeth in the bone on the film. If there is crowding visible, we can make models of the childs mouth and measure how much bone is required. We have used this treatment method for over 29 years with great success.  We rarely extracted  permanent teeth to treat our cases.

One of the problems with extracting teeth and pulling the front teeth back with head gear is that the child may develope TMJ problems later in life. This happens because the upper front teeth ,when they are brought back, keep the lower jaw from going foreward into its resting zone. This creates strain in the the Jaw joint (TMJ).Very few children have grown up experiencing tmj symptoms using this method of early intervention..  In fact, that is why I got involved with learning this treatment method because I treat tmj problems and found I needed to move the teeth differently from the  traditional orthodontic way. If your child is in the 6-8 year old age group you may want to seek out an early intervention orthodontic dentist, like us.

Many people, when asked how their partial or full denture is performing, will say “OK”… even when everything is not “OK.” Unfortunately, they may have lost their frame of reference – they simply don’t remember what it felt like to have natural teeth. They think that their removable teeth are their “cross to bear.”

Be Honest With Yourself

If you’re a partial denture wearer, ask yourself a question: “Would I rather not have to remove my teeth ever again?” Or, if you’re a full denture wearer, “Would I like to have my dentures firmly attached to my jaw, without slipping or sore spots?” Most people answer “Yes.” Dental implants can help you attain these goals, which is why more and more people have become eager to learn about them.

Straight Talk About Dental Implants

If you would like to schedule a consultation to communicate your needs and desires, and to receive a thorough, straight-forward understanding of the benefits of dental implants, please talk to our appointment secretary. The consultation with the Doctor will not be technical. He will show you what is really possible with today’s modern implants and give you the opportunity to reach your goals. Wouldn’t it be great to see your healthy smile in the mirror, and to read a menu without giving a thought to what you can or cannot eat?

Take the First Step

If you are interested in knowing more and to see if you are a candidate for fixed replacement teeth, talk to Dr. Smith. It may be the best thing you have ever done for yourself.

Implants are  made out of titanium . Once the implant is placed and the bone heals around it, a post is placed into the implant and a crown is made to fit over the post. There are three components to what you, the patient, think of as an implant tooth.

Implants are 98% successful. The main reason for failure is gum disease. We do not recommend implants to patients who cannot properly care for their mouth.

Brush daily with the proper tooth brush.  If you use a hand tooth brush, you need to brush down on the upper teeth and up on the lower teeth.

If you use a rechargeable electric tooth brush (not battery) then hold and move ( no up,down or scrubbing motions).  Do not scrub horizontally with any tooth brush as it will then cause erosion of the tooth at the gum line.

Floss once a day.  You must use the proper technique or you may cut your gum tissue.

If you smoke cigarettes, consider stopping since over 90% of the smokers have gum disease in some form. In fact the use of tobacco in any form causes gum disease in over 90% of the users.

CoQ10 in the liquidform  mixed in water as a swish and swallow mouth rinse will eliminate bleeding within days and stimulate your immune system into action..  This in combination with good brushing and routine dental cleaning will restore your tissue to health.

Regular professional dental cleanings, and scaling as necessary, is imperative.

Remove any filling or crowns with rough margins, or heavy metal fillings (better known as “silver fillings” or “mercury fillings”).  Rough areas are like fine sand paper against the tissue.  Mercury or other heavy metals also cause irritation to the tissue and may cause bleeding.

If you have any non-precious crowns with heavy metals ,they may need to be removed so that the tissue can heal without irritants present.

If there has been bone loss due to the about factors, laser surgery of the gum tissue may be needed. But that decision would not be made immediately. The first thing to do is Change bad habits and evalute from there.

The laser way to treat the gum disease is simply to use the proper power setting without shots, no scalpels, no sutures, no oral bandage and no post-operative pain. The reason is that the laser pulsates so quickly that the tissue and nerve have no chance to fire off a pain impulse. The tissue is simply “melted” away with absolutely no pain. It feels like your tissue is being lightly “sanded”. Healing is quick and without pain. The gum pockets treated with the laser are bacteria free for nearly 90 days so the bodies healing mechanism has no secondary infection to fight.

Another use of lasers that we use is in decay detection. We have a laser that detects decay before you can find it by eye or instrument. We used to have ptients who would come in for a 6 month recall visit and find no decay. The next 6 months when they came in, there was a large cavity. Now that we use this technology, this type of thing rarely happens. The instrument is called a Diagnodent. We use it ,so should your dentist. Sometimes I have “stck’ in a tooth ,only to use  the Diagnodent and find in was a groove only and not decay.So it prevented me form doing an unnecessary procedure. You can see more about this and other technologies at my web site, www.garrysmithdental.com.