Bruxism - Are you Grinding your Teeth at Night?

Bruxism, the medical term for grinding, gnashing or clashing your teeth, is an ailment that surprisingly nearly 10% of the world’s population suffers from in some sort of fashion. Although it's especially prevalent in children under the age of 5, any of us, at any age can develop into a broxer and sadly the majority of sufferers are nearly always oblivious to their condition.

Well obviously, the sound of grinding and gnashing all night isn’t exactly pleasant for your partner, but bruxism can seriously damage your teeth. Classic telltale signs are teeth that are chipped, flattened and even showing worn out tooth enamel. In fact it’s been estimated that when you grind your teeth together, the pressure that one tooth exerts against another is around 250lbs. Measure that against normal chewing where you’re exerting a force of around 40lbs and you start to get the picture.
Further symptoms can range from jaw pain and headaches to chewing the insides of your cheeks and earache.

To be truthful your guess is as good as anybody else’s. Doctors, experts and sufferers the world over, have studied the condition but no one so far, has come to a definitive conclusion. The best guesses seem to fall into the realm of anxiety, stress, anger repression and personality type. However, as the majority of children seem to outgrow bruxism, researchers believe that for them it may be a response to teething or earache pain.

The first thing to do if you think you might be a broxer, is to go and see your dentist. If you do suffer, it may not be too bad, possibly a bit of stress management, acupuncture or even relaxing with a good book and some soft music might do the trick. If not, your dentist will explain to you about mouth guards (they’re a bit like a boxer’s gum shield and help protect the teeth and gums at night) or he/she might even suggest realigning your jaw.
Whatever their assessment is you’ll feel better knowing you’ve had a check up and who knows, the peace of mind you’ll enjoy might be enough to stop you grinding your teeth at night.