| Long-Term Effects of Clenching Your Teeth |
Clenching your jaw, also known as bruxism, is something a lot of people do without realizing it. They try to focus or get stressed out, and the next thing they know their jaw or teeth hurt because they were holding it together tightly. If you do this for too long, it can leave you with a myriad of issues to deal with. Here are some of the more common things that happen when you clench your teeth often:
• Tooth wear and even cracking.
• Jaw pain and TMJ disorders.
• Headaches.
• Trouble sleeping.
• Earaches because the jaw is near the tiny bones of the inner-ear.
• Stiff, tense, and sore shoulders.
• Receding, inflamed gums.
The longer and more often you clench your teeth, the worse the problems are going to be. If you want help to avoid clenching your teeth, contact our office today. We can help you protect your teeth from the effects of bruxism with a mouth guard or physical therapy referral or both.
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| The Power of Spinach
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Its tax season and very stressful time of year for a lot of us. Many people turn to food to deal with stress (some avoid it entirely!), which can be unhealthy if you're picking highly processed or sugary foods. But if you turn to foods like basil and spinach you may find that they actually help to relieve some of the stress you are feeling. Spinach and basil are known to relieve muscle tension, calm down the nerves, and help with fatigue. This is because of their magnesium content, which also regulates heart rhythm, blood pressure, and key in maintaining a healthy immune system. You can eat up to a cup of basil and spinach – cooked or fresh – each day. Magnesium also plays a part in hundreds more biochemical reactions that occur throughout the whole body.
We can't forget about the teeth! Spinach is a good source of Vitamin K, which functions in retaining calcium in the bone matrix, thereby leading to bone mineralization. Apart from this, other minerals in spinach like manganese, copper, magnesium, zinc and phosphorus also help in building up of strong bones. This in turn can prevent an individual from developing osteoporosis. These minerals are also essential for maintaining healthy teeth and the bone that supports them.
So when you pull out your checkbook to sign your hard-earned dough away to Uncle Sam, have yourself a spinach salad with some strawberries like this one: http://flavormosaic.com/spinach-strawberry-champagne-salad/. There! You'll start to feel better in no time! :)
- Jocelyn Boffing RDH |
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| Win Your Very Own DRONE!!! |
We are having a contest this month for all of our patients! All you need to do is leave a review, on the listed websites, for our office and you will be entered into a drawing (one entry per review) to win a personal camera drone! The more reviews you leave, the more times you're entered. Deadline is March 31st and the winner will be announced on Facebook on April 1st!
The contest sites are:
Google.com
Yelp.com
Manta.com
Facebook.com/layerdental
Foursquare.com (search “layer dental”)
Angieslist.com
*Just search for Jacob O. Layer on the sites listed above (except ones otherwise noted) to find us and leave a review! Thank you all for your amazing support! :)
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