Dental work is up during pandemic
“There are lots of people calling in with problems: broken teeth, cracked fillings, sensitivity, jaw pain, neck pain.”
Dr. Gregory Chann
WILTON — Many people are finding themselves in their dentist’s chair more often, and the COVID-19 pandemic may be the underlying cause, local dentists say.
According to the American Dental Association, 60 percent of dentists who responded to a survey in September saw an increased prevalence in their patients clenching and grinding their teeth, known as bruxism, and 53 percent saw more chipped teeth, broken teeth and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders.
“Stress and the relationship to health and wellbeing is powerful,” Dr. James T. Aris, of Advanced Dentistry of Wilton, said last month.
“Dentists nationwide have seen a rise in stressrelated oral health conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said, citing the ADA Health Policy Institute’s COVID-19 impact poll.
Dr. Gregory Chann, who has a practice on Ridgefield Road in Wilton, is among them, seeing more patients with chipped or broken teeth lately.
“Definitely,” he said. “Everybody is focused on the pandemic. ... The emotional stress, anxiety, dislocation builds into it. There are lots of people calling in with problems: broken teeth, cracked fill
ings, sensitivity, jaw pain, neck pain.”
The stress of being home, working remotely, helping children who are learning remotely, can be borne out in people clenching and grinding their teeth, he said.
“People don’t even know it,” he said on Nov. 14, noting he sees people in the office “clenching their teeth. I tell them, ‘Don’t break that crown I put in your mouth.’”
The normal rest position of someone’s mouth is for their teeth to be slightly apart. For them to be together the muscles have to be functioning, Chann explained.
“People tend not to think about their jaw until it gives them a problem,” he said. “The pressure leads to sensitivity. Throw on that not getting a good night’s sleep, the restlessness leads to clenching and grinding at night.”
Dr. Maryann Lehmann, of Darien, said from the time she was mandated to close her dental office in March until its reopening on May 22, she saw several people having true den
tal emergencies, in so much pain over-the-counter pain remedies weren’t working.
“They were breaking teeth from grinding, or bruxism, and these teeth then either needed a crown, root canal treatment or extraction,” she said last week. The emergencies are still occurring.
“People are reporting me to now that they realize they are grinding their teeth,” she continued. “Aside from breaking teeth, they have headaches, soreness near their ear or TMJ area, someone else in their household hears them grinding and it is painful to chew.”
Possible remedies
One of the possible remedies a dentist can offer is an occlusal guard that prevents pressure on the teeth, Chann said — it keeps the jaw in position and thus the teeth in alignment.
“Most people wear it at night and find relief,” Chann said. In fact, he added, “Some people wear it for a few months and it looks like it’s 10 years old.”
Chann said he’s making more of them for his patients, multiple times a week.
A guard made by a dentist has some distinct advantages over sports mouth guards people might buy in a store. “They are not comfortable to wear,” Chann said of the sports models. “Often patients wake up and find it on the pillow.”
To make a guard, a dentist takes an impression of a patient’s teeth to create a custom fit so it won’t come out during the night.
Other options Chann suggested are to do yoga or some self-centering exercises with the jaw before going to bed at night.
“Massage your jaw muscles,” he suggested. “If you clench down, you will feel the muscles knot between the jaw and the ear. Massage it.”
Lehmann also recommends a night guard and said her office has made more “in the past six months than in the past few years.”
Ibuprofen and applying alternating hot and cold compresses for 20 minutes each to the TMJ area just in front of the ear can help with pain, she said. Caffeine can also aggravate a grinding habit.
Lehmann also recommends the massage technique, but with a twist — a battery-operated beauty bar women use to minimize wrinkles and promote circulation in facial skin is “marvelous to massage the muscles in and near the TMJ area, and really help relax and soothe them.”
The advantages go beyond relief from headaches or preventing broken teeth.
“Maintaining our oral health is key to a healthy immune system and enhanced overall health,” Aris said, “along with the importance of a balanced diet, exercise, quality sleep, and thoughtful communications during this difficult time.”