Dealing with aggressive grinding that accompanies bruxism

Bruxism is a disorder that lets patients have aggressive grinding of their teeth. Many patients ask: can bruxism destroy tooth enamel? This article will focus on how proper care should be given to people who have bruxism.

What is bruxism?

This is a disorder that causes people to grind their teeth. There are many instances where teeth grinding happens occasionally, without harming the person’s teeth. However, if teeth grinding becomes a regular occurrence, this is when it can become detrimental to oral health.

What causes bruxism?

Many causes of bruxism exist. The disorder can be caused by excessive stress and anxiety. Other sleep disorders can also cause bruxism, sleep apnea can have bruxism as one of its side-effects.

Treatment for bruxism

Many treatments are available for this tooth-grinding disorder. 

Bruxism mouthguard. Your dentist can recommend a mouthguard that can help you stop grinding your teeth. This mouthguard is meant to be custom-fitted to your mouth to make sure all your teeth will be guarded against aggressive grinding.

Reduce stress. Your dentist will also advise you to reduce your stress levels because the most common cause of bruxism is high-stress levels. Many stress-reducing techniques are available that can help calm you down, especially before sleep. If you are calmer before sleep, there are fewer chances for teeth-grinding to occur.

Avoid chewing when it is not necessary. Some people have bad habits when it comes to chewing, such as chewing the tips of their pencils and other inedible things. This is usually done unconsciously but once one starts to control it, it can be stopped. Doing these bad habits will make your jaw used to clenching and biting down hard, which can be done unconsciously during sleep.

Teach yourself to relax your jaw. You can make a conscious effort to stop clenching your jaw. You can put the tip of your tongue in between your teeth, and this practice will let you soften your jaw.

Avoid alcohol. It is proven that alcohol consumption in people who suffer from bruxism tends to aggravate the teeth grinding.

Avoid certain food that can cause teeth grinding. Certain foods can make the situation worse. Avoid food and drinks that contain chocolate, caffeine, soda, and other stimulants. 

Bite correction. Some people grind their teeth because of a bite that is misaligned. Having the bite corrected using dental appliances will likely get rid of bruxism as well if it is not related to any other sleep disorder.

What should you do?

If your teeth and jaws are painful when you wake up from sleep, you might be suffering from the aggressing grinding of teeth because of bruxism. Talk to your dentist about this, and they will advise you on what steps you can take to stop grinding your teeth. Teeth grinding can be dangerous if it goes unchecked. Teeth can be ground down to stumps or may fall out because they have become loose in their sockets. Listen to your dentist’s advice, so you can get over the harmful grinding and save your precious pearly whites.