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904 Dental Care
Dentist in Jacksonville
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Appliances
Improve your quality of life with the right dental appliances. Sports guards keep your teeth protected. Sleep apnea and TMD/TMJ splints can help to give you the protection you need at all times.
Mouth Guards
- Made of plastic
- Typically worn during sports, especially contact sports
- Protect the teeth, gums, and other fixed orthodontic appliances (like braces) from harm caused by physical contact
- Can secure the temporomandibular joint and aid in the prevention of joint injuries
Orthodontic Retainers
- Made of plastic or acrylic and metal
- Used as a follow-up treatment for patients who have had braces, to keep the patient’s teeth from returning to their former positions
- Worn on a nightly basis at the outset of treatment, and sometimes during the day as well
- It can be worn for several years after having braces (or even for the rest of the patient’s life!)
- May be difficult to get used to at first, but any soreness and pressure usually disappear within a couple of days
- In some cases where the patient only needs to move one tooth or wants to close a small gap between their teeth, retainers can be activated and used instead of braces
- Removable retainers can sometimes aid in improving certain speech problems or medical conditions
- Tongue cage retainers/crib retainers are used to train the tongue. It has small metal bars that come down from the roof of the patient’s mouth in order to keep the tongue from slipping between the teeth when the patient is talking
- Removable retainers can sometimes improve symptoms of TMJ problems (jaw joint), including issues such as malocclusion or teeth grinding, that result in earaches, headaches, neck and jaw pain
Space Maintainers
- An easy, affordable way to keep the teeth where they are supposed to be
- Made of metal or acrylic
- Custom-created for each patient
- Maintain natural teeth and jaw position by keeping the patient’s teeth from moving into any gaps that might exist due to the premature loss of a baby tooth
- Most often used for children, but can be used for adults too
Occlusal Splints
- Also called bite guards, night guards, bite planes, or bite splints
- Used both to modify the bite and to protect the teeth
- Made of either soft/semi-hard plastic (night guards) or hard, hard-soft acrylic nylon (bite splints)
- Can help with pain caused by TMJ problems (jaw joint) in ears, neck, head, and jaw
- The soft kind is more difficult to clean and adjust and will need replacement more often
- Nightguards should only be worn at night according to the instructions from 904 Dental Care
- Not intended for use in athletics or other recreational pursuits – they are not strong enough to provide proper support
Clear Aligners
- Made of clear plastic and customized to the shape of the patient’s mouth using specialized orthodontic technology
- Don’t trap plaque or food particles in the mouth
- Best used to treat mild to moderate issues
- Not a good option for children
- Must be taken out of the mouth to eat, drink, brush, floss
- Come in sets of two, changing both every one to two weeks
- Typical treatment length ranges from 6 to 24 months
Anterior Reprogrammers
- Shaped like a mouthguard and made of plastic
- Preferred for dealing with chronic/severe teeth grinding and clenching
- Can be worn day and/or night
- Can be worn on lower or upper teeth
- Used to treat symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders and bruxism (tooth grinding) and to relax jaw muscles, relieving pain
- Can help alleviate muscle fatigue and curtail migraines and tension headaches
Palatal Expander
- Typically used on children ages 9-12 years old as part of their comprehensive orthodontic treatment
- Used to expand a patient’s upper arch when the arch is too narrow to fit all of the permanent teeth
- Not usually used for adults unless the adult is also having maxillofacial surgery as part of their treatment because adult bones are no longer growing and therefore, would be more challenging to treat this way.
Occlusal Equilibration
- Used when the upper jaw and the lower jaw do not match up properly
- Preferred method for adjusting cusps of teeth that are situated too low or too high, which can interfere with proper jaw closure and chewing
- Selectively reshapes the biting surfaces of some teeth and stabilizes teeth
- Symptoms of patients who might be a candidate for occlusal equilibration include abnormal wear, breaking of restorations, and pain in areas like the shoulders, head, or jaw
- Can be taken care of in a single appointment most of the time, though more complex cases may require multiple office visits to complete the work
- The goal is to stabilize the bite and eliminate the symptoms, including pain