Dr. David S Brown

Best Foods for Healthy Teeth and Gums

Brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing once a day is always going to be vital for healthy teeth and gums, as are regular dental visits to Leeds City Dentalcare. But your dental health is also influenced by your food choices. So what are the best foods for your teeth and gums?
Dentist Leeds

High fibre vegetables and fruits. Vegetables and fruits that contain large amounts of fibre have a naturally cleansing effect on your teeth, helping to scrub them a little cleaner. They are also harder to chew, and chewing helps to stimulate the flow of saliva, washing away excess food particles, and reducing the acidity in the mouth. Crunchy fruits and vegetables such as carrots and apples also have high water content, helping to dilute the natural sugars while still being enjoyable to eat.
Dairy products that do not have any added sugar are also good for dental health. Cheese can help to stimulate the flow of saliva, while other dairy products such as milk are valuable sources of calcium and phosphates.
Green and black tea. That morning cuppa contains substances called polyphenols that help to fight bacteria that cause tooth decay, preventing them from multiplying. If you’re a coffee lover, then this tasty drink also contains polyphenols. It has also been shown that cocoa contains substances that can fight these bacteria, just so long as it isn’t sweetened!
Snacking on nuts is already known to be beneficial to general health, but these crunchy treats also contain minerals and vitamins that are good for your teeth. Peanuts are high in calcium and in vitamin D, while almonds also contain calcium. Walnuts contain thiamine, magnesium, iron, niacin, vitamin E potassium, zinc, and vitamin B6. One thing to bear in mind is that your teeth do need to be in good condition to eat nuts, as any decay could lead to the tooth crumbling when it comes into contact with something hard.
Products containing xylitol, for example chewing gum or sweets, can be beneficial to teeth, as xylitol is a type of natural sweetener that is extracted from plants, and which will work against the bacteria responsible for causing tooth decay.
Water is essential to all forms of life, and making sure you drink plenty of it will help to keep your mouth clean. Saliva largely consists of water, so it is important to make sure you are always well hydrated.

It is pretty easy to make the right food choices for healthy teeth, as you are looking to include foods that are high in vitamins and minerals, but low in sugars and carbohydrates that could stick to the teeth. Foods that contain vitamins A, C, and D as well as phosphorus and calcium are good, but generally it is all about eating a balanced diet, that includes lean protein, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and fortified cereals.

If you do want to eat something naughty, then try to have it as part of a larger meal, and try to clean your teeth soon afterwards. Sticky sweets such as toffees and other foods such as crisps, biscuits and cakes are especially bad for teeth as they are so difficult to remove other than through brushing. Making healthy food choices will help to limit the amount of treatment needed by our dentist in Leeds, and will help ensure you need to spend less time in the dental chair being treated by Dr David Brown. Of course all this will also save money!

David is principal dentist & clinical director of Leeds City Dentalcare. Having graduated at Leeds University & at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, he joined the practice in 1990 & took over as principal in 1992. He has a passion for ensuring that we are equipped with the very latest & finest equipment available securing our place as one of the best equipped practices in Yorkshire.

Does Your Baby Use a Dummy?

Many babies and young children find comfort in using a dummy, and just as many parents or caregivers are probably in the habit of licking the dummy whenever it’s dropped on the floor, before giving it straight back to the child. This isn’t really the best way to go about things, as studies have shown that the bacteria responsible for dental decay can be transmitted to your child. Contrary to belief, merely licking or sucking the dummy before giving it back to your baby will do absolutely nothing to get rid of the germs, but will add some more of your own.

Dentist Leeds Babies are born without any of these harmful bacteria in their mouths, but studies show that mothers typically infect their children before the age of two. However it’s something that can be just about impossible to avoid, as most parents will have eaten from the same spoon as their baby, and of course every adult wants to kiss their child and to ensure they know they are much loved. The problem is that if you have cavities, or are prone towards developing tooth decay, then you’re passing these bacteria straight onto your child. Once these bacteria are able to colonise your child’s mouth, then it’s likely he or she will be prone towards developing cavities too. Some people think that having poor teeth is something that is down to genetics, and while that may be partially true, it’s also down to whether or not the parent has high levels of decay causing bacteria.

Make Sure Your Mouth Is Clean and Free from Disease

So what can you do? Probably the best thing to do is to make sure your own teeth and gums are well cared for through visiting Leeds City Dentalcare at regular intervals for check-ups and professional cleanings with Dr David Brown or another of our dentist in Leeds. If you do have any signs of cavities, then these can be treated and filled if necessary and regular cleanings will help remove much of the bacteria that make their home in your mouth. Making sure you have great oral hygiene at home will also help tremendously, and of course it’s the perfect opportunity to get your young child into the habit of having their teeth cleaned twice a day.

It’s not all bad news, as some experts believe that swapping germs with your child could help to strengthen their immune systems, and may even help prevent them from developing certain allergies. A recent study found that parents who cleaned dummies in this way had children who were significantly less likely to develop eczema, one of the most common allergies there is. It’s true that babies need to be exposed to a certain amount of bacteria, viruses and other organisms in order for their immune systems to develop and mature, and if it doesn’t happen within a reasonable period of time then their system may overreact to harmless particles, something that can lead to allergies. Some people believe that we now keep our homes excessively clean, and that young babies’ immune systems may not be exposed to some of the organisms necessary for their development.

This might all sound very confusing, but perhaps the best way to approach it, is to make sure your oral health is the best it can be so you’re not passing on any excessive amounts of bacteria to your baby, and to try to clean the dummy under running water whenever possible. If you’re then caught short out shopping, and are faced with the prospect of an unhappy baby or sucking the dummy yourself, then at least you know you can do so with a reasonable amount of confidence.

Dr. David S Brown

Fastbraces Offer a Different Way to Straighten Teeth

Leeds City Dentalcare offers several designs of braces that are based on tried and tested technology. However the Fastbraces is a little different, and can deliver results within a year. In comparison traditional braces often plan to move the teeth in two different stages over a two-year period. During the first year the teeth are moved into position, while during the second year the tooth root position is adjusted. Fastbraces aims to move both at the same time using specially designed brackets and wires, so both the crown of the tooth and the root are moved into the correct position simultaneously. The key to this technology lies in the way the bracket is designed as it changes the forces applied to your teeth. Even though these braces are able to act in this way, it’s still perfectly safe, and you should still end up with a lovely healthy smile.

Dentist Leeds Fastbraces are much easier to wear than traditional braces and you’ll probably only need to visit our Leeds surgery a few times during treatment. While most patients will need to wear these braces for a year, it’s possible to see real results in as little as three months, and these braces are suitable for both children and adults. Another advantage of this system is that you only need to wear a retainer for 15 minutes each day, following the completion of your treatment. This means you can easily plan to wear your retainer while you’re getting ready for work or school, and it won’t interfere in any way with your everyday life. Some people overlook the necessity of wearing a retainer following the completion of orthodontic treatment, but it is important as otherwise your teeth are likely to gradually drift back into their original position. This would be a real shame after you’ve taken the care and trouble to straighten them.

Leeds City Dentalcare Also Offers Other Braces

When you visit our Leeds surgery for a consultation, Dr David Brown will discuss all the options available to you so you are able to make an informed choice. The braces system above is just one of several offered by our dentist in Leeds. Others may be less visible, and include the perennially popular Invisalign braces. These are extremely popular with many patients as they are virtually invisible and are very easy to wear. We can help you select the correct choice of orthodontic treatment which will be based on your occlusal problems. Certain types of braces may be more effective than others at straightening your teeth, and may be more likely to produce the type of results you’d like.

We will not recommend an orthodontic system to you unless we think it is right for you, as we obviously want you to be happy with the final results. We have seen first-hand what a huge boost of self-confidence it can be to have a straighter smile, but we also know how it can benefit your oral health. Straighter teeth are easier to keep clean, and it really is as simple as that. By investing in orthodontic treatment, you’ll gain both cosmetic and dental health benefits.

Dr. David S Brown

Have Teeth Whitening in Leeds

This treatment will work well for most people, but you do need to check with your dentist first. It is one of the most requested cosmetic dentistry in Leeds, but it’s important to remember it is a dental treatment. This is why it’s vital to have a check-up at Leeds City Dentalcare before using any type of tooth whitening product. Dr David Brown or another of our dentists will carefully check your teeth and gums for any signs of disease. It is important as otherwise the bleaching gels used to whiten teeth could irritate and inflame your gums, and could make any other conditions such as dental decay worse. That is because the bleach will be able to penetrate areas of your mouth where it shouldn’t be able to, and this is something that could be quite painful!

Cosmetic Dentistry Leeds Tooth bleaching won’t work so well on certain teeth, and this is something else that Dr Dave Brown can discuss with you at the time. For instance it won’t lighten the colour of any porcelain crowns or bridges you may have, so you need to be careful that you don’t end up with an uneven looking smile. Teeth whitening can work particularly well for teeth that are stained or coloured yellow, but works less well on teeth that have purplish or grey hues. If your teeth have white flecks, or look as if they are covered in white lace, then you may have dental fluorosis. This is something that is caused through being exposed to too much fluoride as a child, while the adult teeth are still developing. Dental fluorosis does not always respond so well to teeth whitening, but again this is something our dentist in Leeds will discuss with you. We’ll also tell you what type of shade we think you can safely achieve through teeth whitening in Leeds.

Leeds City Dentalcare uses Nite White

We use the Nite White system to whiten our patient’s teeth, as we feel it delivers the best and safest results. It gently whitens your teeth overnight, so it won’t interfere with your day-to-day routine. Nite White contains active ingredients to not only whiten your teeth, but also to strengthen them at the same time through helping to re-build your tooth enamel.

Our Leeds dentists will show you how to use the custom-made whitening trays, and we will supply you with the correct strength of bleaching gel to comfortably whiten your teeth. One of the advantages of whitening your teeth using this method is that you can control the results, and it can make your teeth feel far less sensitive than having them whitened in just an hour or so.

Although it’s nice to have your teeth whitened quickly, the process can dehydrate them quite substantially as it makes the tooth enamel more porous, and as the teeth gradually rehydrates they can change colour and may look a little darker than when you originally had the first treatment.

You won’t get such substantial changes with this type of system, and if your teeth do feel particularly sensitive after whitening, then you can always stop for a day or two to let them adjust before continuing with the process. Another advantage of this system is that the whitening trays are custom-made for you and are extremely comfortable to wear and we can always supply additional bleaching gel so you can top of the results at a later date.

Dr. David S Brown

Make a Dental Check-up Part of Your Pre-Pregnancy Plan

The majority of women all too well aware of the dangers of smoking or drinking alcohol or using drugs during pregnancy, but not so many know about the connection between gum disease and a healthy pregnancy and baby. There’s been quite a lot of research conducted into the link between chronic gum disease, called periodontal disease and the risks posed to pregnant women. It’s been found that having poor dental hygiene could increase the risk of having a low birth weight baby, or even miscarrying, or of having a preterm baby.

Dentist Leeds This is one of the reasons why Leeds City Dentalcare recommends women trying to become pregnant book a full check-up beforehand. This will allow our dentist in Leeds to ensure your teeth and gums are healthy, as it’s much easier to carry out treatment before you become pregnant.

The Importance of Healthy Gums

Healthy gums help ensure that all the bacteria in the mouth remain in the mouth, and cannot enter the body through the bloodstream. They are designed to fit snugly around the teeth, creating a barrier. Gum disease is a bacterial infection, and the inflammatory response from your body causes the gums to become swollen, to begin bleeding, especially when brushed and flossed, and eventually to begin pulling back from the teeth. When your gums bleed, the bacteria in your mouth are able to enter the bloodstream, and can travel around your body creating more sites of inflammation.

If you do have any signs of gum disease, then Dr David Brown will be able to treat this condition before you become pregnant. He can also arrange for you to have treatment for any other dental diseases such as tooth decay, and can carry out any necessary x-rays before there is any risk of you being pregnant.

Caring for Your Teeth and Gums during Pregnancy

In addition, Leeds City Dental care can also advise you on the best way to keep your teeth and gums healthy during your pregnancy. The hormonal changes can affect your gum tissue, and can increase the risk of you developing a condition called pregnancy gingivitis. This is where the increase in its oestrogen makes the gum tissue more sensitive to plaque bacteria, and this means they can become inflamed and will appear swollen and red, and are likely to bleed when you brush or floss.

This condition is quite common and is estimated to affect up to half of all pregnant women. The good news is that it should clear up once the baby is born. Another relatively rare condition that can develop on the gums is something called a pregnancy tumour, but this is benign and is usually harmless. It is a growth that can appear in an area where you have pregnancy gingivitis, and may grow up to three quarters of an inch in size. Once again, this should clear up by itself once the baby is born, but otherwise you may need to have it removed.

We may also recommend you have more frequent check-ups during your pregnancy, and this is simply so we can check to see whether or not you have any signs of pregnancy gingivitis so we can take steps to minimise the infection. We can do this by professionally cleaning your teeth as this will help to remove the plaque bacteria that are causing the infection and inflammation. It’s also really important that you take good care of your teeth and gums at home.

Dr. David S Brown

Making Back-To-School Check-ups Part of Your Child’s Regular Routine

It’s that time of year again as summer starts to draw to a close and the new school term looms large. It’s a time for new beginnings, and it’s also a great opportunity to get into a regular routine of booking check-ups for your children. This will help ensure they start the new term with a nice, healthy mouth and it helps lessen the chance of needing to extract them from school for emergency dental appointments.

Dentist Leeds Tooth decay is a common problem, and many children have at least one cavity or a filling, and in fact this condition is second only to the common cold in its prevalence. Children who are in poor dental health are more likely to have problems concentrating at school, and they’re less likely to be able to eat a healthy diet. It’s also estimated that many school hours are lost each year due to dental related illnesses.

A quick check-up now with Dr David Brown or another of our Leeds dentists could help prevent minor dental concerns developing into major dental problems. A lot of people don’t realise that tooth decay is a bacterial disease, and it’s something that can be easily prevented through making sure your child brushes and flosses each day, and through limiting their intake of sugary snacks and drinks.

Children’s Preventative Dental Care in Leeds

Our dentist in Leeds City Dentalcare will also advise you how best to look after your children’s teeth, and can check that they are developing normally. If your child recently lost their primary teeth, and now has all their adult chewing teeth, then it’s well worth asking about dental sealants. Dental sealants are a great preventative dental care treatment that can help to prevent tooth decay. They work by sealing the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, preventing bacteria from becoming trapped in the deep fissures and grooves in these teeth. Treatment is quick and simple and will only take one visit to our Leeds surgery to complete.

Dental Sealants

Dental sealants can only be used on healthy teeth that don’t have any fillings or signs of decay, so it’s quite important to act quickly. Your Leeds dentists will clean and dry your children’s teeth before painting them with a solution that helps to roughen the surface of the teeth slightly, as this creates a better bond between the sealant and the tooth. This solution is washed off, the teeth are dried, and the sealant is painted onto the chewing surfaces of the teeth and hardened; it really is as simple as that.

Orthodontic Treatment in Leeds

Our dentists in Leeds can also advise you as to whether or not your child requires orthodontic treatment to straighten their teeth. We offer a number of different orthodontic braces, including some that are nearly invisible, something that makes them much easier for self-conscious teens to wear. Today’s modern orthodontic braces tend to be removable, making it easy for your children to keep their teeth clean and free from disease during treatment. Apart from improving the look of their teeth, orthodontic treatment can make it easier to brush and floss, decreasing their chances of developing gum disease or tooth decay.

Getting the right dental treatment during these early years, and getting your children into the habit of regularly visiting the dentist, will help them have a healthy smile for longer, possibly for their entire life.

Dr. David S Brown

Best Ways to Protect Your Gums

Your teeth may be nice and white and healthy looking, but are your gums in great shape too? It’s all too easy to overlook your gums, but they have a very important role to play, and without healthy gums your teeth will have no option but to desert your mouth. Chronic gum disease which is also called periodontal disease is frighteningly common, and is something that Dr David Brown sees all too often. It is a bacterial infection that affects all the structures surrounding your teeth. This includes not only your gums, but also the ligaments that help hold your teeth in the sockets, and the bony sockets themselves. It’s an insidious condition that can creep up on you, but it all boils down to allowing plaque bacteria to build up on your teeth and gums where they can create infection and inflammation.

Dentist Leeds During the early stages of this condition, something that’s called gingivitis, you might notice your gums bleed when you brush or floss them, and you may even be tempted to stop flossing for a few days to let them settle down. This is the worst thing possible, as the bleeding is an indication that your gums are infected, and the infection needs removing. By failing to floss you’re simply allowing the bacteria to remain in place where they will be able to multiply and create even more infection. So what can you do to prevent the infection from taking hold in the first place?

Brush up on Your Brushing Technique

It’s all too easy to get set in your ways when you brush your teeth, and it’s something that many of us learned how to do as children and have never thought about since. It can become an automatic response, but you might not necessarily be making the most of those few minutes you spend brushing your teeth in the morning and evening.

When you brush your teeth, just pause for a moment and think about what you’re doing, and ask yourself if you’re actually cleaning all surfaces of your teeth. Do they feel nice and clean when you run your tongue over them? Or are there areas that still feel a bit dodgy? The dentist at Leeds City Dentalcare can give you lots of advice on how to brush your teeth more effectively, and how to make every second count. There’s also no escaping the need to floss each day, as this removes all the bacteria in areas where your toothbrush simply can’t reach.

Watch Your Diet

Healthy gums also need a good diet that’s rich in fruit and vegetables that contain plenty of fibre, vitamins and minerals and antioxidants. This means your body will be able to fight any bacterial infection, and can send all the necessary nutrients straight to the tissues in your gums to help them heal and repair themselves. It’s worth cutting out snacks, and limiting the amount of sticky and chewy foods you eat. Every time you snack, the bacteria will get to work and will produce toxins and acids that will attack your gums.

It’s best to clean your teeth after every meal, but this isn’t always practical. Instead it can be worth chewing sugar-free gum. The chewing action will help stimulate the production of saliva which is beneficial in helping to wash away excess food particles. Chewing gum will also help remove all the pieces of food that can get stuck in between your teeth and in the deep pits and fissures in your back teeth. If you can, choose the gum that contains xylitol. This is a natural sugar substitute that has an antimicrobial effect which can help gum health.

Dr. David S Brown

How Are Cavities Formed?

Everyone’s mouth contains bacteria, and these bacteria build up during the course of the day creating a sticky film over your teeth and gums. The bacteria are just waiting for you to eat something sugary or sticky such as sweets, biscuits and cakes. Whenever you do so, then they get to work on the leftovers as this will give them the energy to multiply. Whenever they feed they also create quite strong acid that will attack the tooth enamel which is the hard outer covering on your teeth.

Dentist Leeds Repeated attacks will eventually wear down the enamel, exposing the much softer layer of dentine which lies underneath. This will create a pit or lesion in your tooth which may not be easy to detect at this stage, and it won’t cause you any pain. This small cavity also provides the ideal place for the bacteria to hide, as it will be quite difficult for your toothbrush to reach inside. The bacteria will be able to rapidly multiply, and will continue to dissolve the dentine. By this stage you may begin to notice your teeth feel sensitive to hot or cold foods and you might even have the beginnings of toothache.

This is because the dentine contains lots of tiny tubules that lead directly to the nerves of the tooth right in the centre. Eventually the dentine will be eroded away, exposing the nerves in the pulp, and by this stage things are likely to be pretty painful.

What Happens When Tooth Decay Spreads?

Obviously dentist at Leeds City Dentalcare strive to prevent this happening, and it’s one of the reasons why we strongly recommend brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing once a day. This will minimise the amount of contact the bacteria have with your teeth, and will help prevent them from multiplying into unmanageable numbers. If you don’t do this, then you are likely to develop tooth decay, and it will eventually affect the inner part of your tooth, called the pulp.

If the pulp becomes infected it will begin to die, and the tissues contained within the pulp will begin to rot, allowing the bacterial infection in your tooth to spread even further right down to the roots. If you don’t seek help by this stage then you’re in danger of developing an abscess. If you do seek help, then Dr David Brown is likely to recommend root canal treatment to remove the diseased and dying pulp. Provided you have acted quickly, there’s a very good chance the tooth will be able to be saved, as otherwise the only option would be to have it extracted, but this is very much the last resort. This is something that our dentists in Leeds will always try to avoid, as there’ll always work with you to try to save your teeth. Root canal therapy is an excellent preservative dental treatment, and afterwards it will be possible to restore your tooth to full function. Root treated teeth can last many years, although they are highly likely to need crowning.

Dr. David S Brown

Love Your Sugary Cereal? Perhaps you Ought to Follow It with a Big Glass of Milk

Cereal has a reputation as being a healthy food, but not all cereal is created equal, as many contain high amounts of sugar. Leeds City Dentalcare certainly doesn’t recommend having a high sugar breakfast to start the day, but recent research has shown that drinking milk afterwards could at least help reduce the risk of tooth decay. The study was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association and shows that drinking milk after eating a bowl of cereal that is high in sugar could help to reduce the acidity levels in the mouth that would otherwise lead to cavities.

Dentist Leeds Researchers think that milk can help mitigate the damaging effects of eating sugary carbohydrates, and that it can help overcome low pH levels in the mouth. Participants in the study were asked to eat 20 g of dry sugary cereal before washing it down with several different types of drinks including tap water, apple juice and whole milk. The result showed that the order in which food is eaten can help reduce the risk of cavities.

This means it is possible to modify your diet to help keep your teeth healthy; for example ending a sugary meal with a small piece of cheese has been found to help protect the teeth against tooth decay. This is because cheese is rich in calcium and casein, and it can help to repair the tooth enamel. It’s important to remember that not all milk is the same, as many people now choose to drink soy milk, and an earlier study has found that this could actually increase the risk of cavities.

Why is it so Important to Avoid Tooth Decay?

Tooth decay is incredibly common, and is one of those things that’s very easy to underestimate, especially as it usually doesn’t cause any pain or discomfort until it’s quite well advanced. Even though Dr David Brown is able to repair your teeth using the latest composite resin materials, it’s always better to try to preserve your teeth for as long as possible. Once you lose that tooth structure it can only ever be replaced artificially, and you will continue to need fillings in that tooth for the rest of its life.

Early detection is essential, and it’s something that is easily achieved through having regular check-ups by our dentist in Leeds City Dentalcare. Our dentists will use a variety of different techniques to check for any small lesions or pits in your tooth enamel that may indicate the beginnings of a cavity. They will visually examine your teeth to check for any small signs, and will regularly take x-rays that allow them to see the areas in between each tooth, as cavities often develop in these regions.

If detected early enough, small lesions can sometimes be halted in their tracks with fluoride treatments, as fluoride helps to repair and harden the tooth enamel, but this is something that can only be done when the lesion is still very small. The best way is to practice preventative dental care is through brushing and flossing your teeth every day, and making sure you visit our dental surgery in Leeds at regular intervals.

Dr. David S Brown

Are You Guilty of Grinding? Find out Why This Habit Is so Damaging

Dentist Leeds Do you occasionally find yourself clenching or grinding your teeth? It’s probably something that most of us do when my annoyed or upset or simply a little stressed, but some of us have made it a habit and even worse we might not even be aware we doing it. Teeth grinding, or bruxism can occur on a regular basis, and it can do a great deal of damage to your teeth and gums. One of the problems with this habit is that it can often occur at night, and many sufferers are completely unaware they are doing it. It’s not exactly known why people grind their teeth, but it is thought it has something to do with being under a lot of stress or anxiety.

Do you think you might be grinding your teeth, or has your sleeping partner complained about the noise at night? If so you need to take action, and it’s best to contact Dr David Brown at Leeds City Dentalcare to make an appointment for proper diagnosis with our skilled dentist in Leeds. But what are the signs that this might be happening? Common signs of teeth grinding includes:

Waking up with a persistent headache
Having a sore jaw
Noticing your teeth have become more sensitive recently, especially to hot and cold foods
Your teeth might begin to look worn or chipped due to excessive grinding

If any of these sound familiar, or if you’re simply overdue for a check-up then it’s worth booking that appointment. Early intervention could save your teeth from more extensive damage. Treatment will probably involve taking measures to protect your teeth and gums from further damage, and this is something that’s usually done by supplying you with a mouthguard to wear at night. This would be custom-made for you so it will be comfortable to wear, and will prevent your teeth from meeting so you cannot grind anymore. Teeth grinding is often a learned behaviour, and its prevention can be enough to break the habit. There’s also various other things you can try at home.

The first thing to do is to try and work out why you’re grinding, and if you think it is down to stress that it’s important to try to alleviate this somehow. If you can’t get rid of the stressful situation then at least try to think of ways of relaxing more, perhaps by taking more exercise or doing something else that take your mind off things. Bruxism has been associated with alcohol, and with foods that contain caffeine. It can help to cut back on these, at least until you manage to stop grinding. Try to actively relax your jaw throughout the day, and if you do find yourself clenching your teeth together make conscious efforts to relax your jaw as this will help get your muscles used to being in this position. Using a warm flannel or other moist heat can help relieve pain in the jaw, and you might also want to try some gentle stretching exercises to help ease the muscles in your face.

What Will Happen If I Don’t Seek Treatment for Bruxism?

If you don’t seek treatment for bruxism then it’s likely your teeth will require extensive restorative work as they will gradually become worn down. Bruxism also affects the gums, and you might notice your gums begin to recede, exposing the roots of your teeth and increasing the risk of decay. Long-term bruxism can also do extensive damage to your temporomandibular joint. This is the joint that moves your jaw open and shut and from side to side, and it can become quite inflamed and painful.