Your bite is the way your upper and lower teeth meet. When it is off, your teeth, muscles, and jaw joints absorb forces they were not built for. Correcting the bite is often the first step in a reconstruction.
Signs of a bite problem
- Front teeth worn flat or chipped along the edges
- Jaw pain, clicking, or locking
- Morning headaches or sore facial muscles
- Teeth or dental work that break again and again
- A feeling that your teeth have no comfortable place to rest
How we evaluate your bite
We examine your jaw joints and muscles, take digital scans or models of your teeth, review imaging, and record how your jaw moves. Together these show where your jaw is comfortable and where your teeth are getting in the way.
Treatment options
- A custom splint that relaxes the muscles and lets us test a new jaw position
- Careful reshaping of small spots where teeth collide
- Orthodontics to move teeth into better positions
- Restorations that rebuild the bite at a comfortable height
Why the bite comes first
Restorations built on an unstable bite tend to chip, loosen, and fail early. Testing your bite in a splint or in temporary teeth lets us confirm comfort before anything permanent is made.
Jaw pain sometimes has causes outside dentistry. If we see signs of that, we will refer you to the right specialist.