Bruxism

Hi, I’m Dr. Todd Shatkin and welcome to this Monday Morning Minute. This morning, we’re going to talk about a huge problem in dentistry for dentists and for patients, which is bruxism and grinding of the teeth. And we all know that we can do gorgeous dentistry. We can cement a beautiful restoration.

And if a patient has these habits, they’re going to ruin the restoration at the same time. They’re going to cause muscle pain, jaw pain, TMJ pain, headaches, and everything else. But the worst thing is they’re going to destroy all that beautiful work that you put in their mouth. So it’s very important to know whether your patient grinds their teeth or not. Sometimes we can tell by looking at the dentition at the wear facets, but other times we really don’t know for sure when they grind their teeth and how badly they do.

So there’s this wonderful innovation called a bite strip. This bite strip is not something I develop, but it’s a great product that we can test the patient with very easily. All we do is we take there’s one in a package, we give that to the patient to take home with them before you complete their dental work. Do it as kind of a preliminary test to see how much they grind, and then you’ll know what type of occlusion to build for them. Whether you want a balanced occlusion, if you want something in group function or you want cusp of guidance, okay?

And afterwards, if they’re a heavy bruxer, you’ll make them a mouth guard. And there’s one other thing that you should think about, which is Botox. Botox injections into the masculine muscles will significantly reduce the amount of grinding and bruxing a patient does at night while they’re asleep. Okay? So if you can find out that they’re bruxer beforehand, it helps.

You just like taking a CT scan on the patient before you do the implants or a good quality X-ray. You want to do diagnostic testing. This is another diagnostic test. And you can charge for this. We sell these for $69 each.

And if you buy four, we’ll give you one free. These are fantastic. I use it all the time on my patients. The way it works is you give them this little stick on device, they’re going to stick it on their cheek before they go to sleep, right in the jaw area, as you can see from the picture. And then in the morning, they wake up and peel it off and they’re going to have a digital readout of zero, one, two, or three.

Three is the most severe bruxing. Of course, two is less. It’s like a medium bruxer. One is a mild bruxer, and zero is no bruxing at all. So if your patient comes up back with a zero, you’re home free.

You don’t have to worry too much about the grinding. But if they come back with a two or a three, you really need to consider the options of for sure a nightguard and probably consider Botox injections into the mass of their muscle. If you don’t do Botox in your practice, we can help you with that, because my brother, Dr. Samuel Shatkin Jr. Who’s a board certified plastic surgeon, teaches dentists how to give Botox injections as far as for bruxing and also for rejuvenation procedures.

So call Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® or register online for one of our upcoming courses on the mini dental implants, of course, and also on the Botox injection to help your patients from bruxing. You can go to register@shatkinfirst.com or you can go right online and register on the website or just give us a call at 8884-Shatkin and one of our friendly representatives will assist you. I look forward to seeing you again next Monday morning on the Monday Morning Minute.