Live data from Hacker News

The Year of Grinding Teeth

theparisreview.org

21–30 of 52 posts

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#21
post #20

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.

I have both the soft malleable kind and the hard Sisu kind. Doesn't stop me from doing something in my sleep although it can mitigate the effects somewhat.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#22

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…

I was coming in to post this. There is new evidence that bruxism is your body just trying to keep its airway open when you are asleep.

If you grind your teeth at night and have excessive daytime sleepiness even after getting 8+ hours of sleep, then you should get a sleep study done to check for sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a very serious medical condition that increases blood pressure, damages your brain, wrecks havoc on your mental health, and increases risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, etc.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#23
post #17

I'm interested in this topic... my list - grinding teeth in sleep - nightly/morningly sleep paralysis - not being able to breath through nose sleep is hard...

For the nose: try breathe right strips. I had chronic nasal congestion.

Not only did those help me breathe at night but they seemed to have helped my daytime breathing as I keep my nostrils open a bit wider. My average blood oxygen rose after starting.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#24
I had TMJ issues my whole life. Jaw started clicking at 8 and 20 years later I developed chronic pain. For the past 3 years I have seen Dr. after Dr. and every doctor dismissed my pain and gave me generic stretching/exercise. I finally found a TMJ expert who create mouth inserts to extend your jaw forward for several months, followed by physical therapy and then a lip tie/tongue tie procedure. The first day I wore my mouth inserts I could literally breathe better.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#25

I had TMJ issues my whole life. Jaw started clicking at 8 and 20 years later I developed chronic pain. For the past 3 years I have seen Dr. after Dr. and every doctor dismissed my pain and gave me generic stretching/exercise. I finally found a TMJ expert who create mouth inserts to extend your jaw forward for several months, followed by physical therapy and then a lip tie/tongue tie procedure. The first day I wore my…

I don’t have this problem but I know of someone who does and would probably like to hear about these inserts. Do they have some specific name?

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#26
post #3

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…

Curious if that tongue-palate trick would also reduce bruxism during stimulant use.

I was taught the tongue-palate trick years ago as a relaxation technique. It's basically impossible for your facial muscles to be contracted while doing it, helping an overall relaxation.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#27

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…

> I think without reducing all the stress it'll never stop.

Is there anything you can do to reduce excessive stress?

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#28
post #23
post #17

I'm interested in this topic... my list - grinding teeth in sleep - nightly/morningly sleep paralysis - not being able to breath through nose sleep is hard...

For the nose: try breathe right strips. I had chronic nasal congestion. Not only did those help me breathe at night but they seemed to have helped my daytime breathing as I keep my nostrils open a bit wider. My average blood oxygen rose after starting.

Thank you for the recommendation. I've ordered a pack of 10 to try - I hope they help.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#29
post #28
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the nose: try breathe right strips. I had chronic nasal congestion. Not only did those help me breathe at night but they seemed to have helped my daytime breathing as I keep my nostrils open a bit wider. My average blood oxygen rose after starting.

Thank you for the recommendation. I've ordered a pack of 10 to try - I hope they help.

No prob. Be sure to use warm water when you take them off in the morning. Makes it substantially easier.

I forgot, the other thing that helps is a saline rinse. I like the neilmed solutions. If you don’t use the premade water solutions, be sure to boil water or use distilled.

Re: The Year of Grinding Teeth

#30

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?

I've heard people recommend magnesium but I don't think it will help unless you're deficient, and even then the effect will be small.
Post reply on HN