A. How To Stop Grinding Teeth At Night Without A Night Guard?
Teeth grinding is also known as bruxism. It is a very common sleep disorder that causes people to grind their teeth at night and are usually unaware of it.
It is very harmful to general health as it:
- Drop your teeth
- Disrupts tooth enamel
This necessitates the need for serious dental work such as crowns, bridges, root canal implants or dentures. If it gets worse, it can change the appearance of the face or cause temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ). Therefore, it is very important to get the right treatment before it’s too late. Visit a specialist dentist in your area to get the most suitable option for your problem.
To treat bruxism, you should first find out the cause of it. Talk to your doctor or sleep specialist if you’re suffering from depression, anxiety, stress, or a misaligned jaw. Finding out the reason for your grinding will make it easier to choose the right option. Mouthguards or night protection are also very useful. Your doctor can give you a custom-made rubber or plastic night shield that will protect your pearl from damage. However, if you are looking for other effective options to treat your problem, follow these tips:
1. Treat stress and anxiety
Ranger is more common in young children and less common in older adults, according to the American Academy of Oral Medicine. Stress and anxiety play a key role in bruxism, according to a study by the Finnish Dental Institute, and nearly 70% of bruxism is due to stress. So if the bruxism habit is due to underlying stress and anxiety, you can count on the help of psychological treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy.
It’s talk therapy that explores your inner thoughts and feelings and helps you build healthier habits. It has the potential to manage stress, break unwanted habits, and relieve stress. To relieve stress, you can also sleep well at night. You can even take deep breaths, do yoga, massage and read, listen to your favorite music and shower before bed.
2. Break your habit
You can try habit reversal techniques to break your grinding habits. Habit reversal techniques are used by specially trained therapists. Once you’re aware of how often you’re grinding, it’s easier to break the habit. Whenever you notice a creaking sound during the day, stick your tongue between your jaws. This will relax your jaw and eventually reduce your habit.
3. Treatment and prevention of dental problems
To prevent dental problems, regular dental check-ups are important to prevent further damage. If your grinding is due to a misaligned, cracked, crooked, or missing tooth, it can be corrected with crowns or overlays. These treatments help reshape the chewing surface so you can stop chewing.
4. Get self-help
There are some things you can do yourself to treat your condition, such as:
- Avoid consumption of alcohol, tobacco, smoking and caffeine.
- Avoid chewing gum or chewing on pens, pencils, nails, or other hard objects.
- Avoid eating foods that require a lot of chewing, such as B. Nuts.
- If you notice creaking noises at night, stop immediately.
5. Try to play
It is a therapeutic method of psychological acupressure and is considered an emotional release technique. According to research, it has been found to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder, so it will help with stress-related disorders.
6. Use acupuncture
This technique can help treat bruxism, according to the American Physical Therapy Association.
7. Physiotherapy
According to the American Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders and the Minnesota Dental Association, physical therapy can help treat temporomandibular joint disease (TMD). It can reduce inflammation, relieve pain and restore oral function. Grinding is also very common in children and can cause problems like headaches, TMD, jaw pain, wear and tear. Make an urgent appointment with a doctor if they complain of jaw pain or tenderness.
B. 5 Ways To Stop Grinding Your Teeth That Don’t Involve A Mouth Guard
If you’re one of the many, many people who have endured long, tiring workdays, nagging conversations with people you can’t stand, or a homeowner who refuses to get their plumbing repaired for the third week in a row, you know probably the clenched jaw that accompanies it, the high tension. However, you may not realize that your body is also affected and you may grind your teeth in your sleep. This can lead to a complete crash, pain and extra stress that you didn’t ask for.
Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism, is surprisingly common. A 2019 study of a Dutch population found that 5% of study participants ground their teeth while awake and 16.5% during sleep. Researchers from Poland estimated the number of people with sleep bruxism at almost 13% in the same year. Some people grind their teeth during the day, but many do so while they sleep, often without realizing it. We know that dreaming about sentient sausages can be alarming, but there isn’t a single reason for sleep bruxism to occur. There are various medical explanations for the causes. However, most experts attribute the majority of their clients’ cases to a bite or stress imbalance.
1. How to interrupt everyday life
As you can imagine, this leads to crunch and pain — and nobody cares. So if your dentist can get to the root of the problem by helping you adjust your bite, it might be worth it. There are other possible solutions if you keep an open mind. When it comes to stress bruxism, there are all sorts of remedies suggested by doctors with varying degrees of success. Solid research supports some of these methods, while others are just beginning their journey of exploration, although there is no logical reason to believe they might work. Still, stranger things have happened – but let’s get down to science, not dreams (especially the ones about sentient sausages). Here are some promising solutions to teeth grinding and some research on what works and what doesn’t.
a. Botox
Yes, really! While Botox doesn’t “cure” the grind, it can dramatically reduce symptoms in some patients. The effect of each treatment lasts for several months. It’s not for everyone and can be a bit divisive among experts. However, some people living with bruxism have described Botox as life-changing. The solution can paralyze or slow down the activity of some muscles around the jaw. This can mean you experience a lot less pain from pinching or grinding.
“To grind my teeth at night, I inject a small amount of botox into the masseter muscle. This is the large, round muscle under the ears that sits at the corner of the jaw. You can feel it if you bite with your mouth closed,” explains Charles Crutchfield, MD, clinical professor of dermatology and medical director of Crutchfield Dermatology. “The injection doesn’t work for everyone,” he says. “But in my experience, it can bring significant relief to about three-quarters of those who grind their teeth in their sleep and wake up with jaw pain and a headache.”
Many professionals these days recommend Botox, others are unconvinced. One dentist even laughed when asked if he would recommend the treatment. The initial research is still sparse on either side of the debate, but it’s worth noting that two small studies have pointed to Botox as a useful option. Source One noted that Botox “effectively and safely improved sleep bruxism.” On the other hand, another small study found that Botox caused a loss of bone density in rabbits. (Reminder: you’re not a rabbit, and non-human studies should be done with a small bucket of salt) (unless you’re a rabbit, in which case be our friend and don’t use botox on your face either). In short, be sure to consult a dentist or doctor before trying Botox.
b. Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of short-term talk therapy that explores the thoughts behind your behavior and feelings. It’s a type of therapy that’s less about digging up your childhood and more about learning how your brain works to help you curb destructive thought patterns. The process helps build healthier habits and thought associations. In doing so, you empower yourself to let go of negative patterns and behaviors in your life. Early research showed that CBT could help people calm down their bruxism, but a conclusive and clear link between CBT and improved symptoms is needed before we can rule this out as a real solution.
If you’re feeling anxious, generally on or around certain triggers, it might be worth trying. It can not hurt. “CBT can help treat the underlying anxiety that can cause bruxism, but being a night watchman definitely protects against the consequences,” says psychiatrist Sandip Buch, MD, CBT, founder of Skypiatrist. This form of therapy can be a powerful weapon in your individual crusade against feeling shitty and all the unwanted habits that can come with it. So, as you can imagine, it has the potential to be a good option for people with stress-related bruxism.
c. Hypnosis
Case studies have shown that hypnotherapy can completely eliminate bruxism. Slightly larger studies (albeit much earlier and still with only eight participants) have found that suggestive hypnosis can help reduce the magnitude of the crunch significantly and reduce pain as well. Like other treatments, hypnosis may not work for everyone. But if you’re tired (a lot of sleep), that might justify a shot. You can undergo hypnosis in person.
d. Touch
Tapping, also known as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a therapeutic method of “psychological acupressure” that draws on certain elements of acupuncture. Instead of using acupuncture needles, however, the treatment involves tapping fingers at specific pressure points on your body. Many people with bruxism have said it works wonders, but there isn’t much research on the subject. However, research has found that EFT can offer benefits when it comes to helping people cope with PTSD. There is an opportunity to help with stress-related habits as well.
e. General stress relief
We still recommend this no matter how hard you grind your teeth. Since stress can be a major factor in teeth grinding, both doctors and holistic practitioners agree that nighttime relaxation can be very helpful. Trusted Source “Find ways to relax and de-stress before bed, like getting a massage, using a hot compress, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine,” says certified personal trainer Caleb Backe of Maple Holistics. Yoga, Stretching , meditation or any type of exercise The self-care routine that you usually use to reduce stress is a good choice.
2. How Bad Is Teeth Grinding Really?
Because teeth grinding is so common, it’s easy to assume it’s no more than a minor annoyance. Sure, there are those wild cases of people being forced into dentures at 50, you might say, but for most people it doesn’t really matter, does it? Well, like that. Extreme cases are rare, but according to experts, regular grinding is definitely not ideal. If you notice wear and tear on your teeth, see a dentist. They can monitor the level of wear and advise if it needs to be addressed. Extreme cases are called “extreme” for a reason, as they don’t happen to everyone. If you grind your teeth only occasionally, you may never develop dental problems (although it can make your face feel a bit uncomfortable and tight, which is never ideal).
Even ordinary grinders aren’t necessarily doomed to premature dentures, but consistent grinding over time can lead to fairly severe tooth wear. You can experience cracks in your teeth, bone loss around the roots of your teeth, and sometimes even the loss of the teeth themselves. “Excessive force on the teeth can cause the teeth to break,” says Patel. “Depending on the tear, you may need anything from a filling to an extraction.”
Methods such as bonding, porcelain crowns or veneers are used in the restoration. It’s a lot of expense and effort, so treat bruxism with less intensive measures before it gets too bad. Teeth grinding can also cause joint pain in the jaw area and migraines, which are caused by overstraining the jaw muscles. Ron Rosenthal, DDS, retired dentist and dental educator, explains the link between migraines and bruxism by comparing the experience to a leg cramp – only much worse. “The chewing muscles are the strongest in the body,” says Rosenthal. “They are much stronger than the calf muscle in your leg. If you’re like most of us, you’ve had a leg cramp at some point. It looked like someone poked you in the calf muscle with an ice pick, right?”
3. How Do Dentists Treat Bruxism?
When it comes to treatment, many dentists recommend custom-made night splints that you can wear while you sleep. These can protect your teeth from grinding damage. You can also buy night guards in a store or online. However, they have not been customized for your individual bite, so you may not see the same results. That said, there are some dentists who feel the vigil results aren’t worth it. If a biting problem is causing your bruxism rather than stress, they may recommend dental procedures that can correct an imbalanced bite.
