Loose Teeth

When patients are suffering from loose teeth, the services offered at the Shoal Creek Prosthodontic Group are crucial to their recovery. A loose adult tooth is always a major problem, and the sooner it’s treated, the better.

Dentists distinguish between two kinds of occlusal trauma: primary, which is caused by mechanical damage, and secondary, which is caused by periodontal disease. Teeth that have slowly become loose over time have usually done so as a result of periodontal disease, which damages the jaw bone tissue as well as the gums. Some patients who lose the use of their back teeth attempt to compensate by chewing with their front teeth, but this pressure only serves to further push the remaining teeth out of place.

A periodontist must bring the gum infection under control before the patient’s teeth can be fixed. The recovery process usually involves the placement of a splint at some point, although it varies whether the splint will be permanent. To repair the damage to their jaw bone or prepare for an implant, a patient may need to receive a bone graft at our office.

Frederick Shaw, DDS, operates the Shoal Creek Prosthodontic Group at 1500 W 38^th Street, Suite 34, Austin, Texas, 78731. To schedule an appointment, call 512-451-7491 or visit FrederickShawDDS.com and fill out a contact form.

 

What is Periodontal Splinting?

When teeth are so badly damaged that they need to be extracted, we at the Shoal Creek Prosthodontic Group have a number of removable and permanent replacements for them. But what about when teeth are loose enough to cause problems, but not bad enough to justify replacements? A middle ground procedure we offer is periodontal splinting, also known as teeth binding.

An important note about teeth binding is that it is a means of distributing bite force across numerous teeth, not actually a way of tying teeth together. When binding the front teeth, we dip a porous fiber into resin and cement it to the back of the incisors. In the past, the resin and cement created a large and intrusive ridge, but with modern technology, the splint is much less annoying while remaining just as strong. During the application process, the teeth will be etched with acid, in the same way they are when orthodontic brackets are applied, in order to give them more surface area and a stronger grip. Gaps between the teeth will be temporarily filled with a gel to shield the gums.

Splinting won’t repair any damage that has been done to the teeth or the gums, but it does relieve the demand on individual loose teeth while the patient is biting.

Frederick Shaw, DDS, operates the Shoal Creek Prosthodontic Group at 1500 W 38^th Street, Suite 34, Austin, Texas, 78731. To schedule an appointment, call 512-451-7491 or visit FrederickShawDDS.com and fill out a contact form.