Bruxism refers to grinding or clenching of teeth. Sleep bruxism is a bigger problem and is difficult to control. Bruxism is also known as teeth grinding. You grind or clench your teeth involuntarily many times at night.
Many people grind their teeth during sleep, but some of them grind their teeth during the day as well. Many of them are not aware of their bruxism.
Family members who sleep with this person report their bruxism, as they are disturbed by the sound caused by teeth grinding.
- Children grind their teeth at an early age, but they stop the habit of grinding when they enter adulthood. However, for some children, bruxism continues.
- Adults also grind their teeth during sleep due to various physical, psychological, and stressful conditions. Adults and parents of children often neglect bruxism and think that this condition is normal.
No one wants to know the severity of bruxism until it affects health. Teeth grinding is not chewing something, but applying pressure to the teeth, especially the molars is associated with strong jaw movements.
As the jaw is forced to move, the teeth rub together. The force of clenching and grinding causes pressure on the muscles, tissues, and other structures of the jaw, causing damage to the teeth.
Teeth grinding means sliding your teeth over each other sideways. It is carried out in such a way that the tooth is damaged and results in pain.
If bruxism occurs during the day, you can control yourself or you can control your child. But as it happens especially at night, you are not aware of grinding your teeth until your partner recognizes it or you are not aware that your child grinds his teeth at night.
In adults, bruxism occurs mainly due to tension. It is caused by stress at home, by work. When you go to sleep, you don’t forget about the stressful situations you face in the day. So you also think about the problems of the next few days at night.
This leads to stress and severe tensions and leads to teeth grinding. Adults grind their teeth if they experience pain with other health problems, or with anger or frustration.
Children grind their teeth because of the problems they face at school. They may be worried about grades, exams, and housework. When kids go to sleep, they think about tests, what tests will be like, the grade they’ll get, or the discussion they’ve had with other friends. These are the main stressful conditions for children suffering from teeth grinding.
You can identify bruxism if you have: jaw pain, if you have damaged your teeth, if you find broken teeth, if you have headaches, if there is superficial damage to your teeth, if you have pain in your facial muscles, if there are fractured teeth, if you have earaches or damage to the temporomandibular joint.
Some of the symptoms of bruxism can be identified by you and if you have doubts that you have bruxism or your child suffers from bruxism, consult a dentist. A dentist will examine your teeth and confirm whether it is bruxism or not.
Bruxism causes
Experts don’t completely agree on the causes of bruxism, but daily stress can be the trigger in many people.
Some people probably clench their teeth and never feel the symptoms of bruxism. Regardless of whether bruxism causes pain or other problems, it could be a complicated mix of factors.
How much stress does that person have?, the length of time and force you clench and grind your teeth, whether your teeth are misaligned, your posture, your ability to relax, diet, sleep habits, and other factors.
The consumption of alcohol and drugs is suspected to increase the occurrence of bruxism. However, bruxism can affect adults for an indefinite period of time. Adults with bruxism grind their teeth more during times of work problems, family problems, poor health or stress.
Although this habit is involuntary, oral health specialists often consider excessive tension and certain personality types as characteristic causes of bruxism.
Bruxism usually affects people with nervous tension, anger, pain or frustration, and/or with people with aggressive, hasty or overly competitive tendencies.
Most often, psychological causes of bruxism include:
- Suppression of anger or frustration.
- Aggressive, the competitive or hyperactive personality type.
- Anxiety, stress, or tension (emotional stress and bruxism).
- Children with bruxism usually stop grinding their teeth before adulthood. Some researchers think that children have bruxism because their upper and lower teeth don’t fit comfortably. Others believe that children grind their teeth because of tension, anger, allergy problems, or as a response to the pain of an earache or toothache.
Bruxism treatment
Treatment for bruxism varies depending on the cause. There are different types of treatments available. Treatment should avoid damaging the teeth and jaws.
Consult your doctor before starting any treatment. You should go to the dentist regularly for a dental checkup and find any abnormal wear or damage to your teeth.
You’re not going to be aware of the disease. Ask your bed partner for help to find out if you are grinding your teeth while you sleep.
If the cause of bruxism is due to irregular tooth alignment, correct your teeth. Consult your dentist and seek help in correcting and aligning your teeth.
Your teeth may break, enamel may be lost, or the tooth surface may flatten or your teeth may become loose. If your teeth have been damaged, you can do treatment on the damaged teeth and jaws to prevent further damage. Depending on the damage done to your teeth, your dentist may treat or replace the teeth.
The main cause of bruxism in adults and children is stress. You or your child should undergo stress management therapy to prevent bruxism. By this therapy, the symptoms of bruxism can be reduced. Stress treatment helps relieve stress caused by everyday problems, job stresses, tensions at home, and problems with children.
If your child has bruxism due to stress, it may be due to problems at school, anxiety about grades or tests. Stress management also helps kids relieve stress caused by grades, tests, and homework.
You may grind your teeth due to stress, tension, and anxiety. Hypnotherapy is the treatment that helps the person relieve bruxism. The treatment consists of relaxation exercises that will help you relax, and also help with anxiety and tension.
Your doctor may suggest a mouth guard (also called a splint) to treat bruxism. A mouth guard or night guard will help prevent damage to your teeth. If bruxism occurs at night, you can wear a mouthguard (splint) between your upper and lower teeth. Since the guard is made of rubber or similar, if you clench or grind your teeth, it will not affect your teeth.
Night vigilance cannot cure bruxism, but it prevents damage to the teeth and jaws and prevents further teeth grinding.
Guards are available in all stores, but ask your dentist about the shield because if you buy it directly from the store it may not fit in your mouth. Your dentist will take an impression of your teeth and send that impression to the dental lab to create a shield that fits your mouth.
You can use medication if your dentist prescribes it. Medications to relax muscles, sleep, or bruxism injections may be prescribed if bruxism is severe. However, these medications may not be very effective. Don’t use medications directly without talking to your doctor, as some of the medications may have side effects.
Source: Sleep
