When you grind your teeth at night you are putting your mouth through a lot of excess pain and damage that you may not be aware of. If you do not see a dentist when you notice the signs of bruxism, you are doing more harm to your health than good. There are short-term and long-term effects of bruxism. However, there are also effective treatment options that will eliminate these effects.
Bruxism Effects
Bruxism affects sufferers in many ways. Several of the adverse effects are short term when the bruxism stops, and disappear. Others unfortunately, are long-term as well as long-term.
Short term effects of bruxism
- Headache – Bruxism sufferers are three times more inclined to suffer from headaches.
- Facial myalgia (aching jaw & facial muscles)
- Earache
- Tightness/stiffness of the shoulders
- Limitation of mouth opening
- Sleep disruption
- Sleep dislocation of bed partner due to noise
- Excess tooth freedom
- Inflamed & receding gums
- Long-term effects of bruxism
- TMJ
Treatment Options
Should you grind your teeth while you are asleep, you will need to wear mouth splint or a mouth guard at night. They can also reduce any grinding sounds you make at night.
Mouth guards are not dissimilar in appearance to those used in sports including boxing. They are usually made from bendy rubber or plastic and can be created by your dentist to fit your mouth. You’ll normally need to fund this type of custom made dental appliance.
Mouth guards will also be offered to buy from your local pharmacist. Nonetheless, it’s not likely to fit as well as one. Mouth splints are no more successful in reducing the indications of bruxism. Whereas mouth guards typically last for under a year they tend to endure for years. Nevertheless, mouth splints are far more expensive.
Although splints and mouth guards can lessen muscle activity in your jaw at night, they are only able enough to restrain the state, not treat it.
Habit-reversal techniques are made to break your teeth grinding habit. Nonetheless, there is no scientific evidence to indicate that using habit-reversal techniques will cure bruxism.
Should you grind your teeth while you are awake, it might be useful to record how often you grind your teeth each day. You can then work out when you are more inclined to do it and why for instance, when you’re concentrating or stressed.
Being more aware of your habit will make it better to break. You could train your jaw to relax when you feel yourself clenching or grinding, to break the habit. Talk to your dentist and find out what the best treatment option is for you. It can cause you a lot more damage if you don’t.
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