Healthy Smiles Family Dental

We at Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem work closely with orthodontists to ensure that our patients have properly aligned teeth. Not only does orthodontic therapy improve the teeth’s appearance, it also makes them easier to clean and prevents bite problems. You’re probably aware that patients finish orthodontic therapy by wearing retainers. These oral appliances need to be cleaned regularly, so patients naturally wonder how long they can expect to wear them. The fact is that in order to ensure orthodontic therapy works permanently the retainer will have to be worn throughout life. Teeth naturally migrate, and one of the reasons minor orthodontic therapy is becoming more popular among adults is so they can restore their teeth to the position they were in when they got their braces off. People usually have to wear their retainers in the day for an amount of time equal to the time they were undergoing orthodontic treatment, and will have to wear their retainer at night for as long as ...

Are your teeth and jaws often sore? You may have temporomandibular joint disorder, also known as TMD. Biannual dental appointments aren’t just a chance for you to get a professional dental cleaning. At Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem, we also perform bite checks to determine whether a patient is at risk for the pain and dental trauma that can result from jaw problems. Bruxism is the name for nighttime teeth grinding and jaw clenching. It may be done in response to obstructive sleep apnea, but it could also be due to psychological causes or discomfort from misaligned jaws. It can wear down enamel and cause teeth to crack or be pushed out of place. The pressure from bruxism can also cause soreness to develop in the temporomandibular joint, which connects the mandible to the skull, and may radiate as far as the top of the head and the neck and shoulders. If a person is grinding their teeth at night (or while awake), our hygienists will be able to find evidence of it in the wear patt...