Bite Adjustment

A bite is healthy when all or most of the teeth are present and not destroyed by normal daily use. Another way to think of your bite as healthy is like a chewing table. As more legs are present around the table, each leg carries less of a load, so in your mouth, each tooth carries less of a load from your chewing.

With fewer legs on the chewing table, the load may be destructive causing teeth to show wear, to become loose or to cause damage to the TMJ (jaw joint). Bite therapy helps restore a bite that can function without damage and destruction. This therapy may include:

• Reshaping the biting surfaces of the teeth and eliminating high spots that cause excessive pressure when the upper teeth and lower teeth come in contact. This procedure works by carefully dividing bite pressures evenly across all of the teeth.
• Bite splint therapy using a custom-fitted and adjusted plastic bite guard to keep the teeth apart, worn during the day, at night, or both.

• Braces to reposition mal-positioned or drifted teeth.

• Replacement of old, worn out, or damaged fillings.

• Reconstruction of badly worn and badly damaged teeth.