Month: August 2012

Matching wear patterns in teeth show that grinding has occurred and also show the extent of jaw movement during grinding. It is very surprising to patients when they see how far a person moves the jaw into such a non-functional position while grinding teeth.

– Right View: A perfectly matching wear pattern at the right canine tooth which used to have a sharp pointed tip, as the bottom jaw moves far to the right.

– Frontal View: Grinding wears and cracks enamel shortening this front tooth.

– Right-frontal View: Perfectly matching wear pattern at the shortened front tooth, as the bottom jaw moves far to the right.

– Left View: A perfectly matching wear pattern at the left canine tooth which used to have a sharp pointed tip, as the bottom jaw moves far to the left.

For more information about grinding teeth – such as the causes, the resulting damages, and solutions for grinding – see this column in the Davis Enterprise newspaper by Samer S. Alassaad DDS:

http://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/opinion-columns/focus-on-health-a-creeping-sleep-disorder-destroys-teeth/

Samer S. Alassaad, DDS

All back teeth come in with grooves that are either shallow, deep, wide or narrow. These grooves can be almost impossible to reach with tooth brush bristles and thus can not be kept totally clean. They can then become discolored as they trap stains or as they trap plaque that causes underlying cavities. If the discoloration is caused only by stains, no intervention is necessary. However, if the discoloration is caused by an underlying cavity then intervention is recommended to stop the progression of tooth decay and preserve the rest of the tooth structure. When the discolored groove is not clinically sticky (soft), it becomes more challenging to distinguish between a stain and a cavity. A Diagnodent –a new laser technology that scans your teeth with harmless pulses of light – can then be used to distinguish between stains and cavities with more precision.

In the above example, intervention was recommended after the groove was tested by a Diagnodent and confirmed to have an underlying cavity.

Samer S. Alassaad, DDS