Are Dentures Causing TMJ?
I’ve been in dentures for about 15 years and it feels like every year my jaw pain feels worse. I went to see a dentist about it and he said that I have TMJ disorder. He thinks it is because of my dentures and recommended that I switch to dental implants. Those are pretty pricey. Is this a legitimate thing or is he just trying to get some money out of a patient with no teeth?
Andrew
Dear Andrew,
I want to preface this by saying that I have not examined you, so the information I provide is more general in nature than specific to your case. It is true that you can develop facial collapse from dentures for a couple of reasons. One would be that your dentist made the dentures in such a way that it threw off the proper alignment of your bite. The would become noticeable fairly quickly. Based on what you described yours came on gradually, so I don’t think that is the case for you.
A second way this can occur is from the onset of facial collapse. When you removed your teeth, your body recognized that. Our bodies are extremely efficient. Realizing that you no longer have any teeth to support in your jaw, it will redistribute the minerals in your jawbone to use elsewhere. This has the unfortunate side effect of shrinking your jawbone. In fact, after ten or more years you will no longer have enough jawbone left to keep your dentures in at all. This is known as facial collapse.
As your jaw shrinks, it will affect the temporomandibular joint. This is what helps your jaw move. When your bite changes, the way this joint functions changes too. This can lead to TMJ problems. You’ve been in dentures for 15 years. My guess is, in addition to the jaw pain that you feel, you are starting to have trouble with the dentures themselves. Maybe they’re sliding more than they used to. Or maybe you can’t even keep them in.
Dental implants can fix that. You will need a bone grafting procedure first in order to build back up the lost structure. After that, you can either get removable dentures again, which will restart the whole cycle of facial collapse, or you can get implant supported dentures.
The implants signal to your body that you still have teeth, therefore it needs to leave your jawbone alone. If you go this direction, make sure your implant dentist also has training and experience teaching TMJ. This is so they have the skills to reframe your bite in a way that it has proper occlusion. This should stop your jaw pain.
This blog is brought to you by compassionate dentist in Moline Dr. Thomas Goebel.
CEREC Crown Feels Weird
I had a dental crown placed on an upper molar a few years ago that broke. I wanted if fixed quickly, so I went to a nearby dentist who did CEREC crowns. When the crown was done it felt very uncomfortable, almost like I had an oversized marble in that spot. My dentist said I should just give it time, but I didn’t remember the original crown feeling like this bulky. I started biting my tongue in my sleep and decided I have to go back. She did see that it was a bit bulky at that point and started to grind it down a bit. It still feels big after that and my tongue is still being bitten in my sleep. I don’t know what to do at this point. I thought that CEREC crowns were supposed to be good, but maybe I need the regular kind?
Connie
Dear Connie,
I am sorry you’ve ended up with two bad dentists in a row. First, your original crown should have lasted more than just a few years. Then, you end up with a dentist who does not understand either crowns or how to work the CEREC software. I don’t understand how she didn’t realize the crown was too bulky until you had to go back and point it out.
CEREC crows are generally more accurate because the dentist will scan the original tooth and and then the software can build up the crown based on the shape of the scan. In your case, she did not have the scan, but it is not hard to work the software to guide it in a way that it would build up the crown properly. She obviously did not know how to do that.
Her comment that you just need to “give it time” is very telling. When a crown is properly designed, you will not notice it at all. It will feel just like a healthy natural tooth. She should have known that too.
In your place, I would not trust her to get this right with the CEREC machine. It sounds like she is just now learning how to use the software. As much as you wanted to get this done fast, your best shot to get this fixed at this point is to either get a refund and go to a different dentist who does CEREC crowns or have this dentist do a traditional crown.
She absolutely should not leave it like this because not only can an improperly done crown can lead to TMJ disorder and biting your lip or tongue can lead to tumors. She needs to make this right one way or another.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.