How Bad Is Clenching Teeth at Night

The act of clenching or grinding teeth at night is known as bruxism. Many people suffer from this condition at some point of their lives. The severity of condition may vary according to individual circumstances.

Having that said, a few things that you need to know are as under:

Symptoms that you are clenching your teeth at night

Since there is no direct way of knowing if you are clenching your teeth at night, you will need to look at the symptoms. It means that you might not be able to know about this condition if you have just started clenching your teeth at night. A sensation of fatigue and facial pain, especially in the jaw area, may indicate that you are clenching your teeth at night for prolonged period of time. Headache is another symptom of bruxism at night. Bruxism also results in pain and sensitivity in teeth. Teeth grinding can result in cracks or worn out enamel.

Reason for bruxism

Bruxism can happen due to both physical and emotional stress. The physical factors mainly include overall health, fitness level, nutrition, and sleep quality. On the other hand, emotional factors include stresses related to finance, relationships and work.

What are the treatment options?

Figuring out the real reason for stress is the first step towards treatment of bruxism. However, there are some general relaxing methods which need to be applied if you truly want to bring an end to the bruxism. For instance, you can do a light yoga and have a cup of herbal tea before going to bed. In some cases, placing a warm cloth over the jaw area can help you in preventing bruxism at night.

You need to visit your dentist to see if bruxism has caused any kind of damage to your teeth. After examining the level of damage, your dentist may suggest you the use of night guard. Night guard is a device which is made to specifically comfort the clenching teeth. In some cases, your dentist may suggest you some jaw exercises which are specifically developed to soothe the mouth and jaw ‘hinges’.

Teeth grinding in children

Many people think that children do not have stress; and hence it makes no sense for them to grind their teeth. The matter of fact is that children can have high emotions. In reality, the children can have stressful time more than the adults because they are usually not good at managing emotions. Hence, they may start grinding their teeth. Although they have primary teeth which are going to fall off in the future, teeth grinding can result in a change in the jaw position, leading to several dental conditions for the future. So, you need to take your children to the dentist regularly to get their oral cavities examined.