Teeth Grinding & Bruxism
49Around one in ten people suffer from sleep bruxism, a condition which is characterised by involuntary clenching of the jaw and grinding of the teeth during sleep.
Because the teeth grinding occurs during sleep many sufferers are unware they have th condition. Often it is the sufferer's bed partner who first notices the condition as the teeth grinding is often noisy.
Teeth grinding leads to many problems including:
- Prematurely worn teeth
- Fractured, chipped and broken teeth
- Aching jaw and facial muscles
- Morning headaches
- Disorder of the TMJ (temporo-mandibular joint - jaw joint)
- Disrupted sleep for the sufferer and their bed partner.
It is unclear exactly what causes bruxism, but stress is believed to be a big factor, with sufferers far more likely to grind their teeth and more likely to grind more severely at times of stress. Those who suffer from another sleep disorder or parasomnia, such as snoring, sleep apnoea, sleep talking etc. are at greater risk of suffering from bruxism. Smoking and a high intake of alcohol or caffeine also increase one's risk. Drugs for depression (eg. SSRIs), anxiety and sleep can also cause bruxism, along with some recreational drugs such as cocaine.
There are no cures for bruxism & teeth grinding but reducing your stress levels can often help. Hypnosis has also been known to help some people. In most cases though the best that can be hoped for is to control the condition by protecting the teeth using a special mouth-guard, known as a nightguard or, more accurately, an occlusal splint.
The nightguard is `sacrificed', meaning that it is worn so that the sufferer can grind down the nightguard instead of their own teeth. As such nightguards represent a recurring expense for the sufferer. Besides protecting the teeth nightguards will also often reduce other symptoms of bruxism (jaw pain etc...) as they stop the jaw from `over closing', keeping the jaw in a far more natural position and so placing less strain on the TMJ.
Nightguards can be bought over-the-counter or custom made by a dentist. The later usually being considerably more expensive. Over-the-counter guards come at varying prices and varying quality. There is some variation in design of the nightguards, and different guards suit different people.
