YOUR BITE
A Well-Engineered Bite Can Last a Lifetime

One of the most important factors that effects how long your smile will last is your bite – how your teeth fit together.

Most People Have Two Bites

Your first bite is when your teeth first come together. Your second bite is when all of your teeth come together AND the jaw joints are fully seated into their sockets. Most people can benefit from having only one bite.

Unhealthy Bite

The reason that most people have two bites is because interferences (bad spots) on your teeth stop them from all coming together at the same when your jaw joints are fully seated into their sockets. These interferences (bad spots) can be caused by risk factors such as: your teeth being out of position, past dental work that is either worn down or does not fit right, teeth that are missing or have shifted, gum or bone disease, and broken teeth. Symptoms such as tension headaches, pain in the jaw joints, loose or sensitive teeth, crooked teeth, and even broken teeth are all indications that you may two bites. The onset of symptoms of Bite Disease are often painless and can occur over a period of many months or even years because our bodies can be very adaptive to these painless but adverse changes to our bite.

Advanced Symptoms

As you bite deteriorates over time and goes untreated a more severe form of an unhealthy presents itself. Patients  often times present complaints with symptoms such as:

“The muscles in my face look stressed.”

“People can’t see my teeth when I smile anymore.”

“My lips look thinner.”

“I look like I am frowning all the time.”

“My face looks caved in.”

“My teeth look shorter.”

“My teeth are worn, have cracks in them, or are broken.”

Patients with these types of complaints have suffered damage to their teeth to the extent that the teeth are significantly shorter than earlier in their life, sometimes even to the point where the nerves of the teeth are exposed. An unhealthy bite is complex condition that is only treatable through careful diagnosis, treatment planning, and treatment execution.

Unhealthy bites are becoming one of the most widespread dental conditions that we have identified. People today are living much longer, retaining their teeth longer, and are looking for ways to maintain their teeth longer as they get older. If you feel that you or someone that you know may suffer from an unhealthy bite then you may benefit from a Comprehensive Bite Analysis.

Other Diseases

Patients that suffer from Bruxism (grinding of their teeth) or clenching (squeezing their teeth together for long periods of time) often suffer from more severe pain and accelerate the damage to their teeth. If you are one of the millions of patients who suffer from either of these conditions it is even more important for you to have your bite checked for signs of Bite Disease. Patients with habits such as Bruxism and Clenching can cause tens of thousands in dollars of damage to their teeth, suffer from years of severe pain, and have a very poor quality of life because they are unable to eat, sleep, or be happy in their daily lives because of the physical and emotional stress that it causes them.

Special Procedures for “Unhealthy Bites”

Comprehensive Bite Analysis
If you are a patient who has had a history of tooth wear, tooth damage, poor fitting dental work, or your teeth have never really 'fit together' comfortably, then you may benefit from a Comprehensive Bite Analysis.  Left untreated an unhealthy bite can lead to broken or damaged teeth, jaw soreness, and even untimely tooth loss.

As part of the Comprehensive Bite Analysis, we perform a series of painless tests in order to collect information about your bite including your bite history, molds of your teeth, how your teeth look, and how they fit together.  Then after you go home, Dr. Benson puts your precision molds on a machine that replicates how your teeth are fitting together and how they should be fitting together.  He then studies your case to find the 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' spots  where your teeth touch.  Dr Benson then meets with you to discuss his findings and options that you have to improve your bite.

Bite Balancing and Stabilization
Bite balancing is the process of stabilizing your bite by creating 'healthy' tooth touches on all your your teeth.   Bite balancing can be of great benefit in either preserving your existing teeth or creating a more healthy bite in which to place new dentistry such as implants, veneers, and crowns.

Most patients have a combination of 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' tooth touches.  The presence of 'unhealthy' tooth touches can lead to a variety of symptoms such as:

• chipped teeth, fillings, crowns, veneers
  
• tooth wear
• jaw pain and soreness
• gum recession
• tooth movement 
• untimely or premature loss of teeth
  

If you have noticed one or more of the symptoms listed above then chances are that you can benefit from bite balancing and stabilization.  Bite balancing is completely painless and can be completed in one visit.

Bite Relaxer
If you are a patient who suffers from acute or chronic pain in one or both of your jaw joints, headaches around your ear, or you think that you grind or clench your teeth then you are a good candidate for a Bite Relaxer (BR). The “BR” is a custom made removable clear appliance with a bite tab that fits over the back of your upper front two teeth. A properly made Bite Relaxer can effectively turn off the muscle activating “switches” in your brain and relax the muscle system around your teeth and jaw joint. Once the muscle system has been turned off, typically within a week to ten days, the pain and discomfort usually improves dramatically. Once the muscle system has been relaxed you are then able to undergo a Comprehensive Bite Analysis that will help Dr. Benson to discover the true cause of your pain and recommend a longer term therapy for you. A Bite Relaxer is not meant to be a long term treatment for jaw pain and joint problems but a step in the direction of more comprehensive treatment.