Teeth grinding

[Kit]

Hi, im a 55 year old builder and I grind my teeth a lot at night. My front teeth look worn away and are reduced in size a lot. I don’t like how they look and over the last few days I have been getting up at night with pain from my jaws probably because of clenching. What can I do? Is there a way to buildup these teeth with porcelain veneers? Should I ask my dentist to make me a night guard?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your question. If you grind/clench your teeth at night, you should have a nightguard to stop this problem. This could be a soft nightguard, a hard nightguard or NTI. I usually start people on soft or a NTI nightguard and for the very serious grinders, I later on make a hard nightguard. Once the grining has been controlled, then you can have your worn down teeth buildup again with porcelain veneers or bonding. If the grinding is still not controlled and veneers are made, they will break soon after.