Course Outline
Clenching is the most destructive force in dentistry. If you treat a patient’s periodontal disease and neglect the patient’s clenching problem, you will have a failure. If you place a crown or a filling and ignore the patient’s bite, you will have a failure. If you construct a denture and ignore the patient’s clenching problem, you will have the patient coming back with sore spots. If you ignore the patient’s clenching problem and perform oral surgery, the patient will be having excessive post operative pain.
This course will help you to identify a clenching problem and give you some solutions. The course will take you through many phases of dentistry and show you how clenching determines the success or failure of the dental or tissue restoration.
Learning Objectives
After completing this course you’ll be able to:
- Describe ways a patient can create an abscess.
- State what happens when clenching is ignored.
- List the steps of a physical exam when diagnosing tooth problems.
- Describe the four sequences of clenching and the treatment.
- Describe laser surgery.
- Describe the four stages and the treatment for periodontal disease.
- List the symptoms and treatment for clenching for a patient with dentures.
- Describe treatment for post-operative pain.
- Describe clenching problems and treatment for the patient with restorations and fillings.
- List briefly several symptoms of a bite problem.
- Describe a bite appliance.
- State the purpose of equilibration and how it is accomplished.
- Describe the psychological aspects of clenching.
Course Contents
Clenching: The Tooth Killer
Emergencies
There Are Many Ways the Patient Can Create an Abscess
Diagnosis
- Physical Exam
- X-ray
- Analysis
Types of Clenching
- Centric Clenching
- Lateral Movement
- Circular Movement
- Protrusion Clenching
- Spot Clenching
Sequence of Clenching
- First Stage
- Second Stage
- Third Stage
- Fourth Stage
Laser Surgery
Periodontal Disease Resulting from Clenching
- First Stage
- Second Stage
- Third Stage
- Fourth Stage