How Can I Stop Clenching My Teeth at Night?

Clenching or grinding the teeth is known as bruxism and is a common problem. It can cause excessive or premature wear of the teeth and consequent breakage and sensitivity. It can also cause pain the muscles of the face through overuse, and similarly pain in the jaw joints.

It seems that stress is the key factor in causing people to clench and grind their teeth. It follows that anything you can do to reduce stress in your life will have a beneficial effect. Stress management is a whole subject in itself, but if you know what the over-riding cause of your stress is you are some way along the road towards reducing it.

If you have problems at work for example, you may be able to persuade yourself to get on better with colleagues by seeing their point of view, not being too confrontational, and not hanging on to your anger after an argument for example. This may of course be easier said than done, as our lives are full of stress, particularly in the workplace where constant improvements in performance are expected, targets have to be met, and markets become increasingly competitive. If you can’t eradicate stress you may need to turn to your dentist for advice.

Most dentists are aware of stress induced bruxism and are able to provide a custom fit mouth-guard or night-guard to help overcome the problem. This is a fairly easy to wear plastic horseshoe shaped appliance that slots over either the upper or lower teeth and prevents the opposing teeth from contacting. If you are a night-clencher then you only need to wear it at night of course. Wearing it during the day is possible but makes speaking difficult so is not an option for most people.

This simple device physically prevents the teeth from grinding against each other and also helps to rest the jaw muscles. It is not too expensive to have made, and only requires a couple of impressions to be taken. It will probably feel like a mouthful when you first wear it but, after a few nights you should be getting used to it. A cheaper alternative to a custom made night-guard would be to buy a sports-guard off the shelf. This will not fit so closely, but some can be moulded to an extent with hot water. It will be more bulky and inconvenient to wear than a guard supplied by your dentist but, provided you can wear it, would do much the same job.

If you are really having problems with stress or can’t wear a night-guard for some reason it may be necessary to see your doctor who can prescribe some anxiety relieving medication or muscle relaxant. These drugs can have their place in a short term effort to relieve stress feelings and allow you to come to terms with life, but it is best not to rely on them too much as they tend to become addictive and can be difficult to give up.

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