How to Stop Clenching Teeth: 5 Remedies for Teeth Grinding
Grinding of teeth is a kind of mouth
disorder some people face in their lives. In scientific terms, it is also known
as “Bruxism” and becomes more problematic if you are overdoing this. Yes, clenching teeth on a regular basis or
with high pressure can damage your teeth or make your teeth become weak or wear
out making the entire teeth structure fragile.
If you are facing a teeth-grinding
disorder, you should know about its symptoms and side effects, what remedies
you can do at home, and the best treatment for teeth-grinding in sleep. Here,
we will discuss everything you need to prevent this health disorder.
What is Teeth Grinding
and Its Symptoms?
Teeth grinding is an unusual
process in which you clench your upper jaw teeth with lower jaw teeth that make
a noise like chewing something with hard pressing your teeth. It is not good
for your teeth, as makes it them weak which leads to fracture or loss of teeth.
And maybe you are not
aware of this, as you are in deep sleep, but people sleeping around you can
state about this habit, as you are also disturbing their sleep at night. However,
the symptoms of teeth grinding are, that in the morning you can have a headache
with a sore jaw or facial muscles affecting your sensitive or loose teeth and
you can notice impressions or indentations on your tongue.
What Causes Teeth Grinding?
There are multiple reasons behind this mouth disorder of teeth
grinding in sleep. Sleeping disorders, anxiety, depression, stress,
smoking and alcohol consumption are the leading causes of teeth clenching.
However, as per the research, teeth
grinding is mostly found among the people who snore or suffer from obstructive sleep apnea disorder.
However, as per scientific
research and studies, more than 70% of people grind or clench their teeth because
of stress and anxiety, and few of the researches have shown a stressful work
environment is also one of the possible causes of people suffering from teeth
grinding. However, you can control this and below you can find useful tips to
cure this problem.
5 Home Remedies for Teeth Grinding at Night:
#1 Avoid, Anxiety &
Depression
A stressful lifestyle
and anxiety are some of the main reasons behind the teeth grinding at night. Hence,
avoid taking unnecessary stress and reduce the anxiety and depression levels in
your mind. The stress already has multiple other side effects like acid reflux,
sleeping disorders and hair greying.
To reduce stress you
need to avoid thinking of anything, eliminate the negative thoughts from the
mind and other problems disturbing in your daily life. You can do meditation,
yoga and exercise to overcome stress otherwise you have to go for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to
cope with stress or depression-related health issues.
#2 Avoid Chewing Non-Food Items
At the time of working
in their offices or at home with serious notes, few people have the habit of chewing non-food items
like pens, pencils or other articles in their hands. You have to stop this bad
habit activity as chewing non-food items not only will discolour your teeth but
also encourage teeth grinding at night when you are in deep sleep.
#3
Do Exercise to Relax Muscles & Tongue
To
reduce the habit of teeth grinding at night, you can also do tongue and jaw
exercises that will also help you to relax your jaw muscles and keep them in
the right alignment. Doing such
exercise will relax your jaw bone allowing the whole area to rest and relax while minimizing any risk and any other complications related
to the jaw and down the line of your mouth.
And
to perform this exercise you have to simply open your mouth wide open
while touching your tongue with your front teeth. Apart from this, you can
also try saying the letter "N" many times with a louder sound that
will automatically keep your top and bottom teeth from touching.
#4
Use Mouth Guards and Splints in Nights
Another
way to avoid grinding teeth during
night sleep is to wear mouth guards or splints before sleeping at night. These mouth
guards or splints work like a physical barrier between your upper and lower jaw
teeth and protect the teeth from the impact of clenching.
Wearing
the mouth guards also keeps your jaw protected from strain and your mouth will
not make any noise during the grinding. The custom-made good quality mouth guards are quite
expensive but can be a good option for people facing teeth grinding problems.
Make sure to buy the soft one made from soft material that is easy to wear and
comfortable to use.
#5
Take Feedback from Your Partner
If
you have a life partner sleeping with you at night, or a roommate sharing a
room with you while sleeping at night, you can take feedback from him or her
when and how you grind your teeth. You can tell him to jolt you when you grind your teeth and make much
noise.
However,
if you are staying single you can also take the help of Biofeedback therapy which helps people to overcome
such unusual health activities in their life. Because the clinching of teeth
can cause pain in your mouth or your gums can swell making it difficult to chew
food.
In
Biofeedback therapy, the therapist demonstrates how you can control the
movement of your jaw and muscles using the visual, vibratory, or auditory
feedback generated from electromyography. It works to get short-term relief
from teeth clinching.
Dental Treatment for Grinding Teeth
Grinding
teeth on a regular basis or for long years can be harmful for teeth, it can
wear off your teeth or change the structure of your teeth. You can also feel
the pain if you hardly clench your teeth overnight which can cause swollen gums
that need dental treatment.
Here
if the natural remedies don't work to prevent teeth grinding, you need to visit
a professional dentist and go through a dental procedure like orthodontic treatment in Greater Noida to
cure such problems. The dentist will give you anti-inflammatory drugs to get relief from pain or
swelling caused due to grinding. The dentist will also suggest to you
the right exercise that you have to do every day before going to sleep at night
to avoid grinding or clinching of teeth.
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