Déjà vu All Over Again

Question: Dr. Crapo: I’m forty-four years old and I feel like my mouth is falling apart. All my life people have commented on my attractive smile and while my front teeth seem okay, I’ve lost my two back lower left molars. They seemed to break down, needed crowns, then root canals and then they just broke and had to come out. The dentist said there was nothing he could do because I was so hard on my teeth. I’m trying to protect my teeth with a night guard but my lower right molars are starting to feel rough, like the ones I lost on the left side. I’m afraid they’ll break, then need crowns and on and on. I pointed this out to my dentist and he said I just needed to wear my night guard more. I’m trying but I can’t wear it during the day because I’m in the public, speaking to people all day and besides, I don’t think I grind at night – my husband says I sleep with my mouth open. That makes sense because my mouth is very dry when I wake up. My dentist sent me to a specialist for the extractions and he put some bone in the socket because I had a big abscess and needed bone to fill in the hole created by the abscess. It’s almost time I got implants to fix up that lower left side, but I’m really concerned about what’s happening to teeth on the right side. Another question is what will happen to the teeth on the implants after they’re in?

Answer: Often when the mouth and teeth look in generally good health, the mechanics and function that are being played out on the teeth are not scrutinized. This may be especially true when your front teeth look so good. However, the key to what is going on in the molar areas is most often found in how the front teeth work against one another – in other words how the upper front teeth work against the lower front teeth.

When front teeth are in the correct position, the back teeth do not grind or mortar and pestle one another. They don’t wear, crack, break or get loose. If you are experiencing wear and breakage on your molars, your front teeth are not doing their job. Crowns can replace cracked and broken teeth, but they become subject to the same forces and sooner or later will fail – that goes for implant crowns as well.

The analysis of your bite is simple in the hands of those who do comprehensive dentistry and they can provide you with the answers you need. Please call Dr C Ross Crapo & Associates and book a consultation.