Adequate and restful sleep is essential to your well-being. Unfortunately, several things can prevent you from getting as much sleep at night as you should. There’s the typical culprits of stress, sick children, insomnia, and your own illness that can prevent you from getting several hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep. It could also be due to a condition that your dentist at Cherry Creek Family Dentistry can help you with, such as temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) or snoring.
TMJ and Sleep Quality
One of the leading causes of TMD is the unconscious grinding of teeth at night. This can cause you to wake up groggy in the morning or experience headaches throughout the day. Sometimes the discomfort of TMD can also cause people to lose sleep due to ear or jaw pain. While living with TMD can be challenging, the good news is that it’s a common and treatable condition. We encourage you to schedule an appointment with our nearest dental practice if you recognize any of these symptoms:
- Grinding or clenching of teeth during the day or at night
- Frequent head, jaw, or neck pain
- Popping or clicking sounds when you open your jaw
- Your jaw may lock temporarily
- Broken, loose, or sensitive teeth
- Pain in other areas of your body that feels like it could be arthritis
After reviewing your symptoms and completing an exam, your dentist will create a customized occlusal guard for you to wear at night. You may also hear it referred to as a bite guard or a splint. This thick and hard acrylic material helps to prevent you from grinding your teeth by relaxing the temporomandibular joint muscles. An elimination of teeth grinding could be just the thing you need to get a good night’s sleep.
Does Snoring Keep You Awake at Night?
If you or your partner snore, it means that one or both of you aren’t getting the quality sleep that you need. Deep snoring could even indicate that you have sleep apnea, a potentially dangerous medical condition. The sooner you can get a handle on snoring, the healthier both you and your partner will be. Cherry Creek Family Dentistry can assist you with mild to moderate snoring problems by prescribing a snore aid device.
The Snore Guard helps to reduce or eliminate snoring by pushing out the lower jaw. This opens the snorer’s airways to improve how air flows through the mouth and nose. The improved air flow cuts down on snoring by reducing the sounds to a manageable level. Please note, the Snore Guard is not an appropriate treatment if you have a diagnosed case of sleep apnea. It is to reduce or potentially eliminate snoring sounds only.
Schedule a Consultation Today
Going too long without getting a good night’s sleep can wreak havoc on your health and emotions. If you have an issue with teeth grinding or snoring, contact Cherry Creek Family Dentistry to request a consultation.