How do I stop grinding my teeth at night?
I’m a teeth grinder/jaw clencher. I also experienced headaches as a result of grinding my teeth. When I asked my dentist about how to fix it (thinking maybe a mouthpiece was in order) he told me that eliminating stress would probably help more than anything. To de-stress, I had to identify what was stressing me, and either learn to cope with it or eliminate it. My sources of stress were dealing with the end of a relationship and not accepting who I was. I found reading, journaling, and just chilling out worked wonders. Still, I would definitely ask a dentist about it.
Get your dentist to see if you need an Occlusal Adjustment. It’s an adjustment of your bite so that your teeth strike correctly. Signs you might need it. I used to clench my teeth and this is helping a lot. I would subconsciously bite against the teeth that hit wrong trying to get my jaw in the right position. I had braces as a kid, have straight, healthy teeth, didn’t have trouble chewing and have always had good dental care, but things only need to be a bit off to cause problems. It’s a process that takes several visits because they precisely grind points down a teeny, tiny bit at a time.
I was told that I used to grind my teeth and have had a dentist tell me that I should have a guard. My current dentist who teaches at the local dentistry school told me that my grinding would amount to minimal wear and that my former dentist was a little bit overzealous. This was a while ago. I do not seem to do grind or clench any more, It may seem funny but I actually trained my self to wait until the moment while I was falling asleep that I felt my jaw clench and relaxed it again before I fell asleep. Sounds funny but it actually worked. I was pretty amazed myself. I did this at least 7 years ago.
Not I. The only thing that has worked has been a dentist-made tooth guard, worn for an extended period, until your subconscious brain is trained to regard tooth-grinding as unsatisfying (because the guard takes away the tooth-on-tooth friction, presumably.) Some advice if you have one of these made: I’d go for one that covers the lower teeth, because the upper-jaw ones have plastic that covers the roof of the mouth…saliva collects… discomfort ensues.
