What is Balanced Bite with Neuromuscular Dentistry

Did you know that having good oral health means more than no cavities or gum disease? It's true. How your jaw functions--in words, how your teeth align when you bite and chew and how comfortably you yawn, speak and even whistle--impacts your over-all well-being. Garden Grove and Newport Beach, CA cosmetic dentists, Dr. Timothy Bui and Dr. Caden Lim, evaluate his all patients for jaw joint function. They make sure individuals of all ages have the most balanced bite possible for best oral function and appearance.

The Balanced Bite

During your 6-month dental exam, your dentist does a quick and comfortable check for balanced bite. In other words, do you back molars meet together completely? Is the top jaw bone slightly forward of the bottom jaw? Can you open, close and clench your teeth together easily?

Your Garden Grove and Newport Beach dentists also looks into adverse symptoms such as:

• jaw pain
• sore facial muscles
• frequent headaches
• dizziness
• noise when opening and closing the mouth (popping, grinding)
• tooth mobility, uneven tooth wear, fracture, chips and damaged restorations

They palpate, or feel, the disc-like cartilage at the jaw joint, assessing for size, shape and any discomfort in the hinge-like temporomandibular joint.

If symptoms require further exploration, your cosmetic dentists use a sophisticated diagnostic system called Myotronics K7. This device employs electromyography to explore the neuromuscular function of the jaw joint and sonography, or sound waves, to image the joint. As necessary, your dentists compile and study all this information to formulate a treatment plan to relieve joint discomfort and achieve a well-functioning jaw and bite.

Treatments to Correct Unbalanced Bites

Sometimes, cosmetic dental treatments such as composite resin bonding, porcelain crowns or porcelain veneers can build up worn teeth and even biting surfaces. Other times, patients need custom-made acrylic mouth guards. These devices, worn at night, protect tooth enamel and jaw joints from grinding and clenching (bruxism).

Orthodontics commonly correct the most complex of bite problems, including overbite, under bite, cross bite, overjet, open bite and tooth rotation. Your Garden Grove and Newport Beach dentists offer customized orthodontic solutions for kids, teens and adults, including clear acrylic aligners for comfortable, quick and discreet improvement crooked smiles.

Your Routine Exam

Book it by calling your Garden Grove and Newport Beach, CA cosmetic dentists today. Dr. Bui or Dr. Lim will check your bite and jaw joint function. In Garden Grove, call (714) 537-0550. In Newport, phone (949) 675-7750.