Prevent Tooth Grinding During the Night and Save Your Teeth

Your jaw and your teeth can exert a biting force of approximately 162 pounds per square inch (psi) on average and many people who grind their teeth during sleep exert this pressure nightly on their teeth. It is not surprising therefore to learn that teeth grinding during sleep, a condition called bruxism results in a myriad of health problems relating to the teeth.

This condition occurs most often when the patient is under periods of heavy stress and emotional turmoil and it has been proven in studies that people who have high stress jobs are far more likely to grind their teeth into this sleep than those with less stressful jobs.

Many people are unaware that they have this medical condition simply because it occurs during sleep and so they are not specifically aware, they only notice the after effects such as pain in the mouth when they wake up.

These effects vary in intensity but generally include: sensitive teeth, headaches, sore jaw muscles, lower flexibility of the jaw and abnormal tooth wear or tooth cracking. Generally this condition is seen in many people since it is a stress-related disease and varies due to the person's emotional state. Some people still can experience this over a long-term and it can have severe consequences for the person's teeth and jaw.

You should change your sleep position to one where you are lying on your back with support under both your knees and your neck (such as a pillow), this helps your lower jaw to relax optimally and help prevent the grinding of your teeth at night.

If you are married, have kids or have someone sleeping with you in the nights, you should try to get them to wake you up whenever they hear you start to grind your teeth. This sounds simple but it can help prevent major periods of tooth grinding and can help to limit the damage done to your teeth by this activity.

You should also try clenching your teeth in an exercise called "mass negative practise" which has helped many people to prevent teeth grinding in the nights. In this exercise you should clench your teeth tightly for 5 seconds (close your jaw) and then relax your jaw for another 5 seconds. This exercise should be repeated approximately 6 times in a row and three times daily (in the morning, in the afternoon and right before bed). You should also try to relax your jaw during the day and then go to sleep with your jaw in that relaxed position.

Following these tips will help to decrease the incidence of tooth wear and tear during the nights due to bruxism or tooth grinding and help you get a good nights rest again.

References

1. The Good Night Guide, Better Sleep Council. http://www.examiner.com/x-14701-Knoxville-Wellness-Examiner~y2009m7d1-Better-nights-sleep.

2. Bruxism. http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/bruxism.html