Can’t See My Smile

Posted by writeradmin

I don’t know if there are solutions for this, but thought I’d check. I absolutely hate my smile because you never can see my teeth. I have to overforce smiling to get some teeth visible. When my mouth is at rest everything just looks like a dark cavern. Something else, that may or may not be related, is I have almost constant jaw pain. I get some relief when I wear my night guard and it feels like I have teeth. When it is cold, my jaw tenses up and I have trouble pronouncing certain letters. Is there anything that can help me with this? A dentist suggested porcelain veneers.

Carol Anne,

Dear Carol Anne,

I am not sure why your dentist recommended porcelain veneers. This is a bad idea. While they could help your teeth look more attractive, they will not solve your jaw pain. In fact, it could make the pain and pronunciation issue even worse.

Bear in mind that I have not examined you, but based on your description of the situation, it sounds like your teeth are worn down, making your jaw overclosed. I am assuming you wear a nightguard for griding or clenching, which does wear down your teeth. This problem can lead to TMJ Disorder, which is leads to jaw pain and pronunciation problems.

There is a treatment and solution for this, but it cannot be done by your average family dentist. I especially wouldn’t use your dentist who suggested the wrong treatment. You will need a dentist with advanced TMJ Training. Unfortunately, this is not a specialty, so you will have to do some investigating and make sure they received the right post-doctoral training.

Some great training institutes for this are:

• The Dawson Academy
• The Pankey Institute
• The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies

Let a dentist trained in one of these institutes (you can check their bio on their website) look you over and give a recommendation.

This blog is brought to you by Arnold, MD Dentist Dr. Meredith Esposito.