In cases of minor fractures, especially on the edges of the front teeth, or when the edges are very irregular, often an effect of grinding of teeth, selective grinding and polishing of these edges is a good option.

An alternative would be a small composite filling. However, as such a filling sits in an area we use to bite through items of different texture, the risk is that a filling could either fracture or be dislodged, as the surface and the mechanical grip from the composite bonding is small.

It is possible for patients who grind their teeth and have flattened the edges of the front teeth, to have the edges and the sharp corners rounded. This would give the front teeth a more pleasing anatomical look. To prevent the same thing from happening in the future, as these patients can be expected to continue grinding their teeth, the aesthetic grinding should be used in combination with a night guard, in order to reduce the muscular activity and to protect the teeth from direct tooth-to-tooth contact.

Most of us, to some extent, grind our teeth, mainly at night, and especially during periods when we are in something called REM-sleep, an especially deep kind of sleep. There is a high correlation between grinding and stress. During periods of more stress, we tend to grind more.