Girl easily sleeping with mouth guard for Brampton dental clinic

How to Stop Grinding Teeth and Sleep Naturally?

Jan 01, 2023

Bruxism which causes you to clench, grind, or gnash your teeth, is an involuntary habit because you subconsciously clench your teeth when sleeping or awake. Sleep bruxism is a sleep-related movement disorder that might be related to other sleep disorders like snoring and sleep apnea.

If you have mild bruxism, you might not require treatment. Unfortunately, the problem causes jaw disorders, headaches, damaged teeth, and other issues if it is severe. Sleep bruxism keeps you unaware of the problem until you develop complications. It is essential to know the signs of this condition and seek regular attention from the family dentist in Brampton to safeguard your dental health.

Bruxism Symptoms

Bruxism symptoms vary between patients but might include the following:

  • Grinding and clenching your teeth loudly to awaken your bed partner.
  • You might have flattened, fractured, chipped, or loose teeth.
  • Enamel erosion might affect you, exposing your tooth’s deeper layers.
  • You might experience enhanced tooth pain or sensitivity.
  • Tired or tight jaw muscles and a locked jaw challenging to open or close might affect you.
  • You might incur damage by chewing on the insides of your cheeks.
  • Sleep disruption and many others.

Bruxism Causes

The medical fraternity doesn’t fully understand the underlying reasons causing bruxism. However, the condition might arise due to physical, psychological, and genetic factors.

Awake bruxism might result from emotions like anxiety, anger, frustration, stress, or pressure. It might also be a coping strategy or a practice of deep concentration. In contrast, sleep bruxism might be a sleep-related chewing activity associated with arousal when sleeping.

Bruxism Risks

The risks of bruxism enhance if you are stressed, take medications or other substances like alcohol, or caffeinated beverages, smoke, age, or have disorders like Parkinson’s disease, gastroesophageal reflux disorder, epilepsy, sleep apnea, et cetera.

Bruxism Complications

You might not experience severe complications from mild bruxism. Unfortunately, if you have severe bruxism, the condition might lead to teeth, restorations, crowns, jaw damage, severe facial or jaw pain, tension-type headaches, and disorders with the TMJ joints.

Bruxism Diagnosis

Your dentist can identify the signs of bruxism by examining your mouth during regular dental exams. If the dentist detects signs of the condition, they will look for changes in your teeth and mouth over the subsequent few visits to determine whether the disease is progressive and whether you need treatment.

If the professional suspects you have bruxism, they will try to determine its cause by questioning you about the medications you take, sleep patterns, daily routines, and dental health in general. The dentist determines the severity of the bruxism by checking for tenderness in your jaw muscles and apparent dental abnormalities like missing or broken teeth or other damage to your teeth, the insides of your cheeks, and the underlying bone by taking x-rays. Dental exams help protect against disorders causing similar jaw or ear pain and TMJ disorders.

Bruxism Treatment

Bruxism treatment isn’t needed in many cases because children outgrow the condition, and adults don’t indulge in the habit badly to require treatment. However, if you have a severe problem, remedies to deal with the situation include dental approaches and medications to prevent tooth damage and relieve jaw pain and discomfort.

Should I Wear a Mouthguard for Sleep?

If you have severe bruxism, your dentist might suggest a custom-created mouthguard for clenching and grinding teeth. The mouthguard helps prevent or correct tooth wear and might help stop bruxism. The mouthguards are created from acrylic or soft materials to fit over your upper and lower teeth and keep them separated to prevent damage from clenching and grinding. However, in severe cases, you might need reshaping of the chewing surfaces of your teeth or use dental crowns to restore the damage.

Can Teeth Grinding Be Cured?

The cure for bruxism depends on many factors that may or may not help relieve the condition altogether. Besides using mouthguards, some approaches to control stress and anxiety can help reduce the problem. Behavioral changes by practicing proper mouth and jaw position also help. If you find it challenging to change your habits, you might discover practical biofeedback teaching you how to control muscle activity in your jaw.

You might receive suggestions to have muscle relaxants, Botox injections, or medications for anxiety and stress management.

Lifestyle and home remedies can prevent or help treat bruxism. Therefore you must indulge in habits like reducing stress, avoiding stimulating substances, and practicing ideal sleeping patterns. Do not be ashamed of bruxism if it affects you. Instead, discuss it with your bed partner, asking them to report the sounds to you, making it possible for you to consult with your dentist and seek a remedy to manage the condition appropriately.

If the problem of teeth grinding and clenching concerns you, Rosedale Dental Center provides treatment for the problem using some of the remedies discussed. Consult with the practice before your situation aggravates to cause severe damage to your teeth and mouth.

Call Now Book Now
© 2024 Rosedale Dental Care | Privacy Policy | Web Design, Digital Marketing & SEO By Adit
Font Resize
Contrast
Click to listen highlighted text!