Jaw Problems

The way your teeth meet when your top and bottom jaws close down on each other is known as your bite. If your teeth don’t fit together properly you can have problems with your teeth, gums, the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) and the muscles in your face.

This misalignment, often referred to as TMJ disorder, can also cause some people to clench their jaw and grind their teeth at night. This can lead to facial pain, headaches, discomfort and clicking when biting or chewing, migraines as well as neck and shoulder pain, even back pain.

If you recognise any of these symptoms or suffer with these on a daily basis, please don’t suffer in silence – we can help.

In some cases, treatment includes wearing a plastic appliance at night. This is made to measure and fitted onto your bite accurately, so that your teeth are in a position where your muscles are relaxed. This also stops your teeth from becoming worn down by grinding and helps protect them.

Other solutions may include orthodontic treatment, replacing missing teeth or adjusting any ill-fitting bridgework that you may have. Serious cases may require specialist maxillofacial care and if this is the case, we can refer you to the right person.

The important thing to do is see one of our Shoreham dentists as soon as possible so your problem does not worsen over time and require more drastic measures to correct. Please contact us for further information.