Teeth Grinding
Teeth Grinding
Teeth grinding, or Bruxism as it’s officially known, is one of those tricky conditions that you could be suffering from without even knowing it. An involuntary clenching, grinding and gnashing of the teeth, it doesn’t always display its symptoms in ways that are immediately noticeable.
Most people aren’t even aware they are grinding their teeth until their partners tell them or advanced symptoms such as jaw pain, headaches and worn down, sensitive teeth start to emerge.
Symptoms of tooth grinding
What makes working out if you grind your teeth so challenging is that while you may have some symptoms when you first wake up, they can quickly disappear; and if you grind teeth during waking hours, symptoms won’t be noticeable until later in the day.
So what should you be looking out for?
- Fractured, chipped or loose teeth
- A dull headache, sore jaws and/or ear pain
- Aching teeth, and stiffness in the face and temples, particularly after you’ve just woken up
- Sore jaws while you’re eating, especially at breakfast time
- Sensitivity to hot and cold food and drinks
- Intense jaw clenching
Even if you’re not sure that teeth grinding is responsible for the symptoms you’re experiencing, telling your dentist as soon as you suspect something’s wrong means they can perform a diagnosis and devise possible treatment options.
Problems caused by tooth grinding
All those niggling, sometime painful symptoms may be pointers to even worse damage being done. Teeth grinding places a lot of pressure on your teeth, cracking their protective enamel, fracturing them and breaking things like crowns and fillings, while placing great stress on your jaws joints and muscles.
You might also find your teeth are more sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and more painful to bite down on as the fibre that attaches them to the bone gets inflamed.
Causes and treatments
The range of likely causes of bruxism are physical and psychological meaning that any treatment will often need to address both these things. Your dentist, of course, will take care of the possible physical causes such as overly-high fillings, or missing or crooked teeth,and may fit with a mouthguard if you grind your teeth at night.
But if the source of your teeth grinding is emotional, or caused by illness, poor nutrition or long term pain, it’s important to deal with these issues ahead of seeing your dentist.
Click here to read the original article.
Services we mentioned:
More Wellness Infographics
How Will AI Impact Dentistry Ethically?
Artificial intelligence (AI) this and AI that, we are hearing all sorts about this, apparently, amazing technology of the future made present. But this question is rarely heard: how will AI impact dentistry ethically? This is an important query to pose and, hopefully,...
Do Dental Procedures On Reality TV Shows Create Unhealthy And Unrealistic Views?
It's a story we've known since childhood when Hans Christian Andersen ugly duckling'd us. Suffering and desperation, transformation and joy are as old as narrative itself. It's the death and renewal story that's played out in fairytales, myths, opera, fiction and...
Is It Possible To Not Be Able To Smell Your Own Bad Breath?
When the tiny molecules that smells like bad breath give off are present for a period of time – and that can be for a minute…
Gum Disease May Play A Role In Alzheimer’s Disease Development
Probably the most frightening modern medical scourge is Alzheimer’s disease. Living as we do, as big brained monkeys, to lose our cognitive abilities and memories is, perhaps, the cruellest of fates. New research reveals that gum disease may play a role in Alzheimer’s...
Great dental practice! Fong is a very experienced dentist acquiring all my dental needs and the nurse Emily helped my dentist experience a comfortable one. Highly recommend them.
Michael D.
Great dental practice! Fong is a very experienced dentist acquiring all my dental needs and the nurse Emily helped my dentist experience a comfortable one. Highly recommend them.
Michael D.
After hearing numerous excellent reports about this clinic, I decided to visit myself. I must say that it was a fantastic experience, even better than I expected! The clinic is bright and modern, the receptionists and nurses are friendly and help to put you at ease. The dentist is gentle, knowledgeable and explains everything so thoroughly!
I highly recommend this clinic!
Rebecca S.
