Porcelain Veneers a solution for worn teeth caused by stress

Anchor 1: Health news tonight, and a long term casualty of every day stress.

Anchor 2: As NBC 5's Nesita Kwan reports, you may not be aware of what stress can do to your teeth.

Nesita Kwan: The daily grind of work, when you're awake, can turn your mouth into a grinding machine at night.

Dr. Jeff Weller: The back teeth started wearing more and more.

Nesita Kwan: Which can lead to teeth like these, especially if you're a man.

Dr. Jeff Weller: What I see with men, comparatively, is men have more wear on their teeth.

Nesita Kwan: Chicago doctor, Jeffrey Weller, specializes in cosmetic and rehabilitative dentistry. He says men and larger jaw muscles, which can cause more damage when they clench.

Dr. Jeff Weller: Men come in more for the wear. They come in more for cracked teeth, fractured teeth, worn teeth. Pain, pain in their jaw muscles. We're gonna do, Wayne is, we're gonna is we're gonna get started on the front teeth.

Nesita Kwan: ???????Wayne Kramer's front teeth have been a problem since they were knocked out as a child, but it's everyday eating that's done the rest.

Wayne Kramer: These teeth right here had gotten kind of worn down, just from chewing on 'em.

Nesita Kwan: ???????So, Dr. Weller's doing some grinding of his own, to fit porcelain veneers on eight of Wayne's upper teeth. It's not a quick fix. Often patients need their entire bite restored, and that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but at least pain is gone, and there's a bonus.

Dr. Jeff Weller: Things look better. They can take 10 years off your life.

Nesita Kwan: ???????Some say physician, Jason Kole, now has the brightest smile in St. James Hospital's emergency room. His teeth grinding began years ago, probably because of medical school.

Dr. Jason Kole: I would find my teeth grinding to a point where I would wake up in the morning, and my jaw would be locked.

Nesita Kwan: ???????But now, after seeing Dr. Weller-

Dr. Jeff Weller: My wife was just, she couldn't believe it, how great it looked, and she noticed that I was smiling a lot more, after the procedure was done.

Nesita Kwan: ???????Keep in mind, that insurance doesn't usually pay for these extensive reconstructions, even if the teeth are cracked and painful. For more information, you can go to NBC5.com's health page, and click on or topic of the month. I'm Nesita Kwan. Back to you.