April 12, 2024 • 13 mins
Unlock the secrets to a harmonious smile as we team up with Dr. Alex Semide to trace the connections between dental occlusion and your overall health. Dr. Alex, armed with a wealth of knowledge, helps us understand the intricate puzzle of how our teeth should ideally fit together—a balance that influences everything from our appearance to the way we chew. Misalignment in our bite can be more troublesome than a rocky road trip; it can wreak havoc on our oral ecosystem, leading to uneven wear, pain, and a host of dental dilemmas. So buckle up and get ready to steer clear of the bumps on your dental journey with guidance from a true maestro of the mouth.
This episode isn't just about the mechanics of munching; it's a deep exploration into how the alignment of our pearly whites can impact our lives—the good, the bad, and the crunchy bits in between. With Dr. Alex at the helm, we navigate the consequences of crowded, gapped, or misaligned teeth, drawing parallels between the wear on your tires and the stress on your teeth. Whether you're biting back stress or savoring a steak, maintaining a proper bite is critical, and we're here to show you why. Tune in for a conversation that promises to leave you not just informed, but also empowered to take the wheel on the road to optimal oral well-being.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeremy (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of Word of Mouth, where weexplore the fascinating
connection between your oralhealth and your overall
well-being.
I am your co-host for the day,jeremy Wolf, joined by your host
, dr Alex Semide.
Dr Alex, good to see you hereagain so soon.
Likewise, my good man.
So we were just talking aboutmouth cancer, had some wonderful
(00:35):
tidbits and pieces of wisdomfor folks out there, and I
thought a good topic ofconversation now would be to
talk a little bit about yourbite in dentistry and why it's
important.
So, with that said, what ismeant by your bite in dentistry
and why is it important?
Dr. Alex Semidey (00:56):
All right.
So let's sink our teeth intothis, shall we?
So what is your bite?
I'm going to start off with alittle bit of like dental nerd
terminology here.
Jeremy (01:04):
Occlusion have you ever heard the term occlusion?
I have heard occlusion, but ifasked to define it, draw in a
blank.
Okay, cool.
Dr. Alex Semidey (01:14):
That's why I'm here.
So occlusion is the term thatwe use in dentistry for how your
teeth fit together.
All right, your teeth are meantto fit together like a puzzle.
I always explain it like itlike two gears right, like the
(01:35):
cogs, and two gears kind ofinterlacing and working
seamlessly with each other.
Right Now, that is the casewhen our maxilla, which is our
top jaw, and our mandible, whichis our bottom jaw, develop
normally and all of the teethhave space and room and are
aligned and that way they get tofit together the right way.
Okay, we've talked about inprevious episodes reasons for
our jawbones not developing allthe way right.
These things can carry on from,like childhood into adulthood.
(01:57):
Habits and dietary habits andgenetics of course, all sorts of
different factors play intothis scenario.
Right, the setup of our teeth.
Now, anything that deviatesfrom this ideal setup that we
were just talking about, we callmalocclusion right.
(02:18):
So it's like occlusion.
That ain't quite what it shouldbe.
Right Now, this can be crowding, which everyone knows about.
This can be like big gaps inyour teeth.
This can be over bites andunder bites and and you know all
of those things.
Ok, now some some overbite.
(02:40):
Right Is is a good thing, likewe don't want our teeth Right.
Think about those gears again,right?
They kind of interlace.
If those cogs were to hit edgeto edge, those gears would break
down pretty quickly, right?
So sometimes folks think, oh,my teeth should be hitting on
top of each other for my teethto be set up, right.
No, there's kind of an overlapand a certain way that things
(03:03):
need to be distributed.
Okay, now what happens whenthings aren't lined up properly?
Right, let's talk aboutalignment in general and let's
talk about the tires on your car.
What happens when your tiresaren't aligned properly?
Jeremy (03:20):
Okay, what happens when my tires aren't aligned properly
?
The car will not drive straight, I'd imagine.
Dr. Alex Semidey (03:28):
Yeah, it wobbles, right, like the driving
experience is impacted, butyour tires are going to wear
unevenly, right, because they'renot all facing the same
direction, they're not allbalanced the same way.
So you end up getting baldspots on a tire earlier than you
should.
You may have like to replaceyour tires sooner, and it's all
(03:49):
because of the alignment of thetires.
Now, with your teeth, like thesame sort of thing happens.
If things aren't alignedproperly and your bite isn't set
the right way now we're goingto start putting excess force
and pressure in certain spotsmore than others.
Right, in certain spots morethan others, right.
(04:11):
So those teeth end up with likethese traumatic bites where
every time that we talk and chewand clench and grind because
our boss is like pissing us offand like we're gnashing on our
teeth, like now, instead of likeall of our teeth absorbing all
that pressure, we have certainteeth that are suffering more
than others and we call that atraumatic bite.
(04:34):
Right Now, what can happen fromthat traumatic bite?
We can wear teeth down.
We can fracture teeth literallylike split them in half like a
log right where they need to beremoved.
We can crack them.
We can lead to to to pain.
We have issues like actuallychewing our food properly.
Right, it goes downstream.
So if you can't chew your foodproperly because your teeth
(04:54):
aren't meeting the right way,that can lead to digestive
issues.
Right, because your stomach ishaving to pick up that load that
that your teeth should be, thatfunction that your teeth should
be carrying out right.
So it really does play a hugerole in the overall stability of
someone's oral health to have aproper bite where all of those
(05:18):
forces are distributed andlong-term gastrointestinal
issues gastrointestinal issues.
Jeremy (05:30):
Are there any other issues that can come from having
issues with your bite in termsof other areas of your body
besides digestion?
Dr. Alex Semidey (05:37):
Most of those.
Yeah, absolutely, tmj is thebig one that comes to mind.
That's lockjaw, isn't it?
That's that one of the kind ofTMJ is kind of like an umbrella
term for things that aren'tquite right with your temporal
mandibular joint, with your jawjoint, and lockjaw can happen.
(06:00):
That's one of the symptoms thatyou can experience if you do
have some sort of issue withyour TMJ.
It can be jaw pain.
It can be jaw pain, right, itcan be difficulty, like you said
, locked jaw, even if it's nottotally locked, but a decreased
range of motion, jaw like musclefatigue and a lot of people
(06:20):
will wake up in the morningfeeling like they've been
chewing gum all night, right,and it's because they've been
clenching or grinding.
And malocclusion can be one ofthe risk factors for clenching
and grinding, because your mouthcan't find a nice stable
position to sort of rest inright, so you're constantly like
struggling to find a properplace for your jaws to kind of
(06:46):
rest against each other properplace for your jaws to kind of
rest against each other.
Jeremy (06:52):
So what are some common signs that indicate there could
be a problem with the bite?
And how does that, I guess,change?
Because I have kids and they'regetting braces now.
So I'd imagine that for a lotof people these issues are
addressed at youth, but forsomebody that maybe hasn't
addressed at youth, is there apoint where it becomes too far
gone to fix.
How does that work?
What is the?
I don't know?
(07:13):
I guess kind of talk a littlebit about that.
Dr. Alex Semidey (07:15):
Yeah.
I mean like with everything, thesooner we catch things, the
easier it is to fix.
And malocclusion is generally amuch more straightforward
problem to solve with kidsbecause their bones are much
softer.
You get to move things around alot easier.
Yeah, um, so definitely, if wesee early on there's one of
(07:36):
these like jawbone developmentissues, the sooner we catch that
and we use expanders and andyou know headgear and things
like that, right, when, whenfolks back in the day had the
headgear and they looked likethey were picking up you know AM
, fm signals, that was movingand expanding the palate or the
(07:57):
jawbone in order to accommodateand have it expand to have
enough room for teeth to settlethe bite.
So the earlier things arepicked up, obviously, the easier
it is as we get into adulthood.
Orthodontics still work very,very well, but it isn't as
impactful as it is with kids,right, you know, whether it's
(08:21):
fixed appliances like thetraditional braces, right
brackets and wires bonded toyour teeth, or clear aligners
like Invisalign or ClearCorrect,we have great options to
correct a lot of these problemsand ultimately improve the
occlusion to make it more stableand hopefully, you know, avoid
(08:42):
all of these issues down theline.
Jeremy (08:44):
So, aside from traditional braces or Invisalign
, which I'd imagine is probablymore prevalent for adults that
are trying to correct theirteeth, are there any other
things that can be done?
Are there any other treatmentoptions out there that anybody
should know about?
Dr. Alex Semidey (09:14):
There are some other appliances that are
sometimes utilized, of occlusionissues right and and solving
them in a way that's that'sthat's predictable and
comfortable and, and you know,accessible to patients.
Sometimes, like I said, there'sother appliances gear expanders
(09:37):
that need to be brought intothe, brought into the mix, but
with, with traditionalorthodontics and clear aligners
we can fix, like I said, 99% ofocclusal issues.
Jeremy (09:49):
Are there any, I guess, misconceptions or myths that you
run into concerning theimportance of your bite that
you'd like to address, Maybesomething that you've heard from
a?
Dr. Alex Semidey (10:00):
patient.
What type of things are youhearing?
The number one thing is really,like people feel and and think
that straight teeth are for goodlooks, you know?
And uh, yes, yes, straightteeth are more attractive, no
doubt about it.
Um, there's all sorts ofstudies as to, you know, the
psychological impact that that,that it has to meet someone that
(10:24):
has an attractive smile versusa non-attractive smile, like, we
actually perceive them as beingmore competent, right, like you
think someone with a good smileis, just by meeting them, might
be smarter than someone withouta good smile.
It's bizarre, but that's whatthe literature shows.
But, yeah, all the time we havethese conversations with people
(10:45):
at the office and what we hearis I thought straightening my
teeth was just for it to lookbetter.
Right, they didn't understandthe profound impact that it was
going to have on their oralhealth, right?
Just think about this if youhave a bunch of teeth that are,
you know, really crowded anddifficult to get in between, is
that going to be easier orharder to keep clean and keep
(11:06):
those gums healthy and keepthose teeth healthy, as opposed
to teeth that are lined up andaccessible to your toothbrush
and floss?
Right, it's a no-brainer, right?
The straighter things are, theeasier you can take care of them
right, the cleaner you're goingto be able to keep your mouth,
the fresher your breath is goingto be, and the better and more
(11:27):
stable your bite will be, sothat you don't run into these
other issues down the line.
Jeremy (11:32):
Yeah, for sure, and I can.
I can speak to that to somedegree because, as you know, I
have three fake teeth over hereand flossing under there.
I have to have that little.
I forgot what it's called, thelittle floss thing.
Dr. Alex Semidey (11:44):
What is it called?
Jeremy (11:46):
Floss threader.
A threader, there you go.
That's the word I'm looking for, and every night I got to put
the threader through and do thewhole thing.
Dr. Alex Semidey (11:51):
So it just makes it a little bit more, you
should try super floss, superfloss.
Yeah, try super floss.
I don't know what.
It is a great tool for folks.
Cooper floss is a piece offloss it's about 18 inches long
and the first like three or fourinches are waxed, so it's firm,
it's soft but firm.
(12:12):
And then the next segment ofthe floss is thicker and kind of
rope here, so you use the waxedportion to get under, in your
case your bridge, so you canjust.
It's harder, so you can justthread it through without the
feather.
Ah man.
It's a really, it's a reallyneat little little gadget and
(12:32):
for bridges, I recommend themall the time.
Jeremy (12:35):
All right.
Well, I'm definitely going toget myself some super floss, no
doubt.
There you go.
Dr. Alex Semidey (12:40):
All right and anything else I expect some sort
of cut out of this promo forthe Super Flows.
Jeremy (12:45):
Absolutely, brother, absolutely, and anything else
you want to touch on before wewrap this one up.
Dr. Alex Semidey (12:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
So a couple of key points thatI wanted to make.
For folks that are, you know,wondering about their bite and,
you know, curious as to whetheror not it's something that
should be looked into a littlebit further.
We do offer complimentaryconsultations for orthodontic
treatment at the office.
All of our contact info will bebelow.
(13:13):
Just reach out either on socialor give us a call and we'll get
you in.
We can have a conversation.
We'll actually analyze yourocclusion digitally and you'll
be able to see if you do haveany problem areas and then we'll
discuss what we can do about it.
Jeremy (13:28):
All right, sounds good, my man.
Always a pleasure.
Thanks as always to ourlisteners for tuning in and we
will catch everyone next time,on the next episode of Word of
Mouth.
Keep smiling, folks.
All right, everyone, take care,have a great day.
Thank you for joining us onword of mouth.
Remember a healthy smile is areflection of your wellbeing.
(13:50):
Until next time, keep smilingand caring for your dental
health.
We'll be back soon with moredental insights.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of Word of Mouth, where weexplore the fascinating
connection between your oralhealth and your overall
well-being.
I am your co-host for the day,jeremy Wolf, joined by your host
, dr Alex Semide.
Dr Alex, good to see you hereagain so soon.
Likewise, my good man.
So we were just talking aboutmouth cancer, had some wonderful
(00:35):
tidbits and pieces of wisdomfor folks out there, and I
thought a good topic ofconversation now would be to
talk a little bit about yourbite in dentistry and why it's
important.
So, with that said, what ismeant by your bite in dentistry
and why is it important?
Dr. Alex Semidey (00:56):
All right.
So let's sink our teeth intothis, shall we?
So what is your bite?
I'm going to start off with alittle bit of like dental nerd
terminology here.
Jeremy (01:04):
Occlusion have you ever heard the term occlusion?
I have heard occlusion, but ifasked to define it, draw in a
blank.
Okay, cool.
Dr. Alex Semidey (01:14):
That's why I'm here.
So occlusion is the term thatwe use in dentistry for how your
teeth fit together.
All right, your teeth are meantto fit together like a puzzle.
I always explain it like itlike two gears right, like the
(01:35):
cogs, and two gears kind ofinterlacing and working
seamlessly with each other.
Right Now, that is the casewhen our maxilla, which is our
top jaw, and our mandible, whichis our bottom jaw, develop
normally and all of the teethhave space and room and are
aligned and that way they get tofit together the right way.
Okay, we've talked about inprevious episodes reasons for
our jawbones not developing allthe way right.
These things can carry on from,like childhood into adulthood.
(01:57):
Habits and dietary habits andgenetics of course, all sorts of
different factors play intothis scenario.
Right, the setup of our teeth.
Now, anything that deviatesfrom this ideal setup that we
were just talking about, we callmalocclusion right.
(02:18):
So it's like occlusion.
That ain't quite what it shouldbe.
Right Now, this can be crowding, which everyone knows about.
This can be like big gaps inyour teeth.
This can be over bites andunder bites and and you know all
of those things.
Ok, now some some overbite.
(02:40):
Right Is is a good thing, likewe don't want our teeth Right.
Think about those gears again,right?
They kind of interlace.
If those cogs were to hit edgeto edge, those gears would break
down pretty quickly, right?
So sometimes folks think, oh,my teeth should be hitting on
top of each other for my teethto be set up, right.
No, there's kind of an overlapand a certain way that things
(03:03):
need to be distributed.
Okay, now what happens whenthings aren't lined up properly?
Right, let's talk aboutalignment in general and let's
talk about the tires on your car.
What happens when your tiresaren't aligned properly?
Jeremy (03:20):
Okay, what happens when my tires aren't aligned properly
?
The car will not drive straight, I'd imagine.
Dr. Alex Semidey (03:28):
Yeah, it wobbles, right, like the driving
experience is impacted, butyour tires are going to wear
unevenly, right, because they'renot all facing the same
direction, they're not allbalanced the same way.
So you end up getting baldspots on a tire earlier than you
should.
You may have like to replaceyour tires sooner, and it's all
(03:49):
because of the alignment of thetires.
Now, with your teeth, like thesame sort of thing happens.
If things aren't alignedproperly and your bite isn't set
the right way now we're goingto start putting excess force
and pressure in certain spotsmore than others.
Right, in certain spots morethan others, right.
(04:11):
So those teeth end up with likethese traumatic bites where
every time that we talk and chewand clench and grind because
our boss is like pissing us offand like we're gnashing on our
teeth, like now, instead of likeall of our teeth absorbing all
that pressure, we have certainteeth that are suffering more
than others and we call that atraumatic bite.
(04:34):
Right Now, what can happen fromthat traumatic bite?
We can wear teeth down.
We can fracture teeth literallylike split them in half like a
log right where they need to beremoved.
We can crack them.
We can lead to to to pain.
We have issues like actuallychewing our food properly.
Right, it goes downstream.
So if you can't chew your foodproperly because your teeth
(04:54):
aren't meeting the right way,that can lead to digestive
issues.
Right, because your stomach ishaving to pick up that load that
that your teeth should be, thatfunction that your teeth should
be carrying out right.
So it really does play a hugerole in the overall stability of
someone's oral health to have aproper bite where all of those
(05:18):
forces are distributed andlong-term gastrointestinal
issues gastrointestinal issues.
Jeremy (05:30):
Are there any other issues that can come from having
issues with your bite in termsof other areas of your body
besides digestion?
Dr. Alex Semidey (05:37):
Most of those.
Yeah, absolutely, tmj is thebig one that comes to mind.
That's lockjaw, isn't it?
That's that one of the kind ofTMJ is kind of like an umbrella
term for things that aren'tquite right with your temporal
mandibular joint, with your jawjoint, and lockjaw can happen.
(06:00):
That's one of the symptoms thatyou can experience if you do
have some sort of issue withyour TMJ.
It can be jaw pain.
It can be jaw pain, right, itcan be difficulty, like you said
, locked jaw, even if it's nottotally locked, but a decreased
range of motion, jaw like musclefatigue and a lot of people
(06:20):
will wake up in the morningfeeling like they've been
chewing gum all night, right,and it's because they've been
clenching or grinding.
And malocclusion can be one ofthe risk factors for clenching
and grinding, because your mouthcan't find a nice stable
position to sort of rest inright, so you're constantly like
struggling to find a properplace for your jaws to kind of
(06:46):
rest against each other properplace for your jaws to kind of
rest against each other.
Jeremy (06:52):
So what are some common signs that indicate there could
be a problem with the bite?
And how does that, I guess,change?
Because I have kids and they'regetting braces now.
So I'd imagine that for a lotof people these issues are
addressed at youth, but forsomebody that maybe hasn't
addressed at youth, is there apoint where it becomes too far
gone to fix.
How does that work?
What is the?
I don't know?
(07:13):
I guess kind of talk a littlebit about that.
Dr. Alex Semidey (07:15):
Yeah.
I mean like with everything, thesooner we catch things, the
easier it is to fix.
And malocclusion is generally amuch more straightforward
problem to solve with kidsbecause their bones are much
softer.
You get to move things around alot easier.
Yeah, um, so definitely, if wesee early on there's one of
(07:36):
these like jawbone developmentissues, the sooner we catch that
and we use expanders and andyou know headgear and things
like that, right, when, whenfolks back in the day had the
headgear and they looked likethey were picking up you know AM
, fm signals, that was movingand expanding the palate or the
(07:57):
jawbone in order to accommodateand have it expand to have
enough room for teeth to settlethe bite.
So the earlier things arepicked up, obviously, the easier
it is as we get into adulthood.
Orthodontics still work very,very well, but it isn't as
impactful as it is with kids,right, you know, whether it's
(08:21):
fixed appliances like thetraditional braces, right
brackets and wires bonded toyour teeth, or clear aligners
like Invisalign or ClearCorrect,we have great options to
correct a lot of these problemsand ultimately improve the
occlusion to make it more stableand hopefully, you know, avoid
(08:42):
all of these issues down theline.
Jeremy (08:44):
So, aside from traditional braces or Invisalign
, which I'd imagine is probablymore prevalent for adults that
are trying to correct theirteeth, are there any other
things that can be done?
Are there any other treatmentoptions out there that anybody
should know about?
Dr. Alex Semidey (09:14):
There are some other appliances that are
sometimes utilized, of occlusionissues right and and solving
them in a way that's that'sthat's predictable and
comfortable and, and you know,accessible to patients.
Sometimes, like I said, there'sother appliances gear expanders
(09:37):
that need to be brought intothe, brought into the mix, but
with, with traditionalorthodontics and clear aligners
we can fix, like I said, 99% ofocclusal issues.
Jeremy (09:49):
Are there any, I guess, misconceptions or myths that you
run into concerning theimportance of your bite that
you'd like to address, Maybesomething that you've heard from
a?
Dr. Alex Semidey (10:00):
patient.
What type of things are youhearing?
The number one thing is really,like people feel and and think
that straight teeth are for goodlooks, you know?
And uh, yes, yes, straightteeth are more attractive, no
doubt about it.
Um, there's all sorts ofstudies as to, you know, the
psychological impact that that,that it has to meet someone that
(10:24):
has an attractive smile versusa non-attractive smile, like, we
actually perceive them as beingmore competent, right, like you
think someone with a good smileis, just by meeting them, might
be smarter than someone withouta good smile.
It's bizarre, but that's whatthe literature shows.
But, yeah, all the time we havethese conversations with people
(10:45):
at the office and what we hearis I thought straightening my
teeth was just for it to lookbetter.
Right, they didn't understandthe profound impact that it was
going to have on their oralhealth, right?
Just think about this if youhave a bunch of teeth that are,
you know, really crowded anddifficult to get in between, is
that going to be easier orharder to keep clean and keep
(11:06):
those gums healthy and keepthose teeth healthy, as opposed
to teeth that are lined up andaccessible to your toothbrush
and floss?
Right, it's a no-brainer, right?
The straighter things are, theeasier you can take care of them
right, the cleaner you're goingto be able to keep your mouth,
the fresher your breath is goingto be, and the better and more
(11:27):
stable your bite will be, sothat you don't run into these
other issues down the line.
Jeremy (11:32):
Yeah, for sure, and I can.
I can speak to that to somedegree because, as you know, I
have three fake teeth over hereand flossing under there.
I have to have that little.
I forgot what it's called, thelittle floss thing.
Dr. Alex Semidey (11:44):
What is it called?
Jeremy (11:46):
Floss threader.
A threader, there you go.
That's the word I'm looking for, and every night I got to put
the threader through and do thewhole thing.
Dr. Alex Semidey (11:51):
So it just makes it a little bit more, you
should try super floss, superfloss.
Yeah, try super floss.
I don't know what.
It is a great tool for folks.
Cooper floss is a piece offloss it's about 18 inches long
and the first like three or fourinches are waxed, so it's firm,
it's soft but firm.
(12:12):
And then the next segment ofthe floss is thicker and kind of
rope here, so you use the waxedportion to get under, in your
case your bridge, so you canjust.
It's harder, so you can justthread it through without the
feather.
Ah man.
It's a really, it's a reallyneat little little gadget and
(12:32):
for bridges, I recommend themall the time.
Jeremy (12:35):
All right.
Well, I'm definitely going toget myself some super floss, no
doubt.
There you go.
Dr. Alex Semidey (12:40):
All right and anything else I expect some sort
of cut out of this promo forthe Super Flows.
Jeremy (12:45):
Absolutely, brother, absolutely, and anything else
you want to touch on before wewrap this one up.
Dr. Alex Semidey (12:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
So a couple of key points thatI wanted to make.
For folks that are, you know,wondering about their bite and,
you know, curious as to whetheror not it's something that
should be looked into a littlebit further.
We do offer complimentaryconsultations for orthodontic
treatment at the office.
All of our contact info will bebelow.
(13:13):
Just reach out either on socialor give us a call and we'll get
you in.
We can have a conversation.
We'll actually analyze yourocclusion digitally and you'll
be able to see if you do haveany problem areas and then we'll
discuss what we can do about it.
Jeremy (13:28):
All right, sounds good, my man.
Always a pleasure.
Thanks as always to ourlisteners for tuning in and we
will catch everyone next time,on the next episode of Word of
Mouth.
Keep smiling, folks.
All right, everyone, take care,have a great day.
Thank you for joining us onword of mouth.
Remember a healthy smile is areflection of your wellbeing.
(13:50):
Until next time, keep smilingand caring for your dental
health.
We'll be back soon with moredental insights.
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