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The Year of Grinding Teeth

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Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#11

Post by 11235813213455 »

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #4
11235813213455 wrote: post #2

Something I never paid attention to is that the natural/ideal resting position of your jaw is that you teeth never touch, and your tongue is touching your upper palate just behind front teeth. I had issues with grinding teeth when younger. But at some point I adopted that position unconsciously. This is a bit like resting breathing rate, the lower the better, but that's controlled completely unconsciously. Your lifes…

I changed my resting tooth/jaw position recently, too, and it's made a big difference. I used to feel more stressed out in the mornings, and I was sure it was because of jaw clenching I would do at night which is now largely gone. And this is going to sound weird, but I've taken it even further by buying some baby chew toys off Amazon and chewing on them for maybe an hour a day. The benefits I've seen since starting…

Hehe, in my case, I have to chew a lot just for eating (raw food, mostly fruits and green/leafy vegs), since a few years.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#12

Post by amelius »

11235813213455 wrote: post #2

Something I never paid attention to is that the natural/ideal resting position of your jaw is that you teeth never touch, and your tongue is touching your upper palate just behind front teeth. I had issues with grinding teeth when younger. But at some point I adopted that position unconsciously. This is a bit like resting breathing rate, the lower the better, but that's controlled completely unconsciously. Your lifes…

Yes, the resting position is important (doctors have told me).

I think another possible issue is that some people lock up their jaw without necessarily putting the teeth together. At least I do this if I don't pay attention. By "lock up" I mean that the jaw is simultaneosly pulled down by muscles and pulled up by the masseter. Then at night, the downward pulling muscles relax, and the upward pulling muscles (masseter) wins, and the actual teeth grinding occurs.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#13

Post by amelius »

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #4
11235813213455 wrote: post #2

Something I never paid attention to is that the natural/ideal resting position of your jaw is that you teeth never touch, and your tongue is touching your upper palate just behind front teeth. I had issues with grinding teeth when younger. But at some point I adopted that position unconsciously. This is a bit like resting breathing rate, the lower the better, but that's controlled completely unconsciously. Your lifes…

I changed my resting tooth/jaw position recently, too, and it's made a big difference. I used to feel more stressed out in the mornings, and I was sure it was because of jaw clenching I would do at night which is now largely gone. And this is going to sound weird, but I've taken it even further by buying some baby chew toys off Amazon and chewing on them for maybe an hour a day. The benefits I've seen since starting…

Doctors have told me specifically to not eat chewy food, like chewing-gum, so what you say seems contradictory to me.

Was there any reason to use toys instead of just chewing-gum?

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#14

Post by markdown »

01100011 wrote: post #10

FYI there may be an association between bruxism and sleep apnea: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-apnea/link-between-sle... I have both. I wear a very tough nightguard whenever I sleep. I tried a few 'comfort' guards but just ground through them. Finally my dentist got me a very hard plastic guard and it has lasted over 5 years. I'm naturally tense and I don't think I'll fix my bruxism until I can stop worrying…

Is there medication (maybe a mild sedative) you can take that prevents bruxism for a night?

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#16

Post by auganov »

Masseter muscle botox gets surprisingly little attention for this and derivative issues. Not too expensive. Very simple walk-in procedure, don't need consults. Zero effort. Not permanent (both a con and a pro), but some say their problem doesn't come back even after it wears off.

Pretty much all other interventions (besides self-awareness/lifestyle) are way more involved and don't have a great record either way. Nothing is proven about botox either, but seems like the best thing to try first.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#18

Post by philip1209 »

Enjoyed my first-ever root canal a couple of months ago that was attributed to bruxism.

P.S. - nights guards through dentists are expensive; note that there are some cheaper D2C options becoming available.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#19

Post by technofiend »

I'm getting braces due to this weird habit I developed of thrusting out my lower jaw, putting my bottom teeth on top of the upper ones and pulling. After a few years of this I've pulled my lower teeth out of alignment and the ones I do this to pitch forward now.

Asking my dentist how to defeat the bruxism all he could suggest was having braces might do it. Mentally preparing for sleep by telling myself not to grind my teeth can help, but I think without reducing all the stress it'll never stop.

I look forward to reading all the advice in this thread on ways to make myself stop.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#20

Post by wikibob »

technofiend wrote: post #19

I'm getting braces due to this weird habit I developed of thrusting out my lower jaw, putting my bottom teeth on top of the upper ones and pulling. After a few years of this I've pulled my lower teeth out of alignment and the ones I do this to pitch forward now. Asking my dentist how to defeat the bruxism all he could suggest was having braces might do it. Mentally preparing for sleep by telling myself not to grind m…

Why didn’t you get a night guard? Simple. Cheap. Easy.
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