When you think of someone who shows their advanced age, you probably imagine their white hair, wrinkles, and bags under their eyes. However, signs of aging aren’t always so obvious; subtle indications can point to a higher age, even if you don’t have the traditional clues. In fact, your smile can either help or hurt your perceived age, especially if you grind your teeth, making you look younger or older than you really are! Learn how this little habit can alter your appearance in the content below.
Oral Signs of Aging from Teeth Grinding
A few common signs of aging can come from teeth grinding. For instance, this habit places immense force on your enamel, which is the strongest material in the human body, but it isn’t meant to withstand that kind of pressure. As a result, damage like wear and even chips and cracks in the enamel can start to show up with grinding your teeth. These results attract the wrong kind of attention to your smile!
Older adults tend to experience more joint pain throughout their bodies than the young, so if you have jaw pain, it can make you seem more mature in age. Grinding your teeth often comes from tension in your jaw joint, causing chronic pain when opening and closing your mouth.
How to Treat Older-Looking Teeth
If you already have damaged or cosmetically older-looking teeth, your dentist can restore a youthful appearance with various treatments, including veneers, metal-free crowns, implants, and more, depending on your individual needs. While your smile may seem like a small improvement, it can take years off your face and make you seem young and confident again.
How to Prevent Teeth Grinding
Although treatments exist to correct pre-existing damage from teeth grinding, it’s smarter to avoid it in the first place. Even if you fix your teeth, grinding can also harm your restorations, so it’s a waste of time to only address the symptom and not the cause.
Fortunately, your dentist offers a solution that can shield your smile from further wear. While you sleep, which is the most common time for people to grind their teeth, you can wear an oral appliance called a nightguard. This device provides slight separation between the upper and lower teeth, and in some cases, it can ease tension in the jaw joint. As a result, you can sleep without causing discomfort or damage to your smile when you wake up.
In the end, you may not prevent all signs of aging, but with the help of your dentist, you can preserve your natural teeth for as long as possible. Holding onto subtle hints of youth can help your smile feel happier and more confident than ever!
About Williamsburg Dental
Although the dentists and staff at Williamsburg Dental have the training and skills necessary to perform even complex procedures, we prefer to actively prevent dental damage whenever possible. As a result, we provide oral appliances like nightguards to those who grind their teeth or experience jaw pain regularly. Interested in learning more about this and other treatments? Contact your preferred location out of six in the Lincoln area to set up an appointment.