Orals dysfunctions

WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND BY BRUXISM?

It is the unconscious habit of clenching or grinding the teeth. This habit can occur during the day in situations of stress, or during the night in periods of deep sleep. It is very destructive and can cause wear and shortening of the teeth, sometimes exaggerated, with or without sensitivity to cold and sometimes even the death of the pulps of the teeth. In the muscles, painful contractures, seizure sensations and headaches. In the temporomandibular joints, it can cause inflammation, grinding sounds, deformations and pain.

The appearance of the episodes of bruxism usually coincide in times of stress and their signs are:

-Worn places on the teeth either in the area where chewing or erosions in the necks of the teeth. These wear down causing loss of enamel exposing dentin (the inside of the teeth) and because of this exposure you may notice pain or sensitivity when drinking hot or cold liquids or even when brushing your teeth.

– Muscle or joint pain or discomfort, ear pain or headache caused by muscle tension.

-Noises in the articulation of the maxilla when opening and closing the mouth.

-The movement of a tooth.

Normally the treatment is intended to prevent tooth wear and especially to relax the muscles.
The most important treatment is the creation of a biteguard, custom made for the patient, which will allow him/her during the night to have the jaws in a suitable position to relax the musculature and a more stable position of the mandible joint. It also serves to protect the teeth and their supporting structure.
In more serious cases it will be necessary to redirect the patient to a physiotherapist to obtain relaxation of this already too tense musculature. And the professional, after doing the treatment, will teach the patient to do some therapeutic exercises.

FREQUENT QUESTIONS

WHAT IS THE DYSFUNCTIONAL SYNDROME OF THE TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINTS?

They are a set of diseases that must be identified and diagnosed accurately in each case; these very complex terms try to describe that in a set of diseases, the joints that govern the movement of the jaw are functioning defectively.

The causes are multiple: in general there are mechanical discrepancies in the proper gearing of the two dental arches, bruxism appears frequently although sometimes it is only to be interpreted as a sign. Anxiety and stress are almost always associated. There may be traumas , even tumors.

The symptoms are varied: limitation of the buccal opening, pain in one or both joints, pain in the teeth, skull, shoulder, arms (sometimes with discomfort from the cervical spine), dizziness, ringing in the ears or perception of nonexistent beeps.
It is aggravated by outbreaks, generally associated with periods when environmental stress is greater. To treat these diseases, they must first be diagnosed and then establish an appropriate treatment for each case.

WHAT ARE LINGUAL DYSFUNCTIONS?

They are diseases related to the defective functioning of the mobility of the tongue. In a normal situation, to swallow saliva or food, the tongue rests against the anterior palate. But not all people do it in the same way. A high percentage of them continue throwing their tongue forward, in the same way they did when they were babies.

It could be said that everyone swallows as they can, but as a result of this repetitive and abnormal swallowing, the physical situations of pressure and suction change in the different parts of the mouth, and as a consequence of this changes appear in the position of teeth.