Tooth grinding - a harmful habit.
Are you (or your partner) fed up with clenching or grinding your teeth?
Are you worried it might be harmful?
Please read on ...
Tooth grinding and clenching is common and can cause many problems:
Did you know that these are just some of the problems that can be caused
- Migraine
- Chronic headaches
- Morning headaches or face pain
- Aching muscles in the jaw, neck and even shoulders
These symptoms may be part of TMD. (Tempero-mandibular dysfunction)
Bruxism- is the medical term we use for grinding the teeth.
Can
bruxing cause other problems?
Well, yes. Quite a few.
- Corners of fillings or teeth which keep chipping of breaking off.
- Loosening of teeth, usually if there are gum problems too.
- Wearing down of teeth. Sometimes evenly, often in an uneven way.
- Jaw joint (TMJ) problems including.
Aching joints, tender joints
Clicking, popping of locking jaw joints
"Lock-jaw"
Front teeth wearing down? A domino effect.
Did you know that, front tooth wear is also usually due to the back teeth not fitting together properly when your jaw is relaxed.
When back teeth don’t line up, this often leads to a habit of pushing the jaw forwards to rest or even rub the front teeth together and so prevent clashing or tripping contacts of uneven back teeth.
In turn this leads to front teeth wearing down and then the teeth lose their shape and beauty and actually wear out, which is often unsightly too. Its a domino effect.
It is so common that you or someone you know may well be suffering in silence with it. In fact, tooth grinding can be so noisy that perhaps your partner is suffering too and not in silence either !
Big jaw muscles
Muscle over development (
Masseteric hypertrophy- for the technically minded)
Some people clench the teeth together rather than grind them side to side. There are several reasons why this may happen. This clenching habit, gives the jaw muscles a real “work-out”. Apart from causing muscle fatigue and soreness, over-use this is like “pumping iron” and can sometimes cause very obvious cheek muscle development. So much so that the shape of the face actually changes . Some of my patients actually thought they were just getting “fatter” faces.
Jaw clenching and life stress
Do you think
David Coulthard clenches his teeth? It looks like it from the shape of his face.
Perhaps its not surprising in his case!
Is he alone in leading a stressful life? I don't think so. So stress can lead to a "gnashing of teeth" too.
In fact this jaw or tooth clenching action can really cause a disfigurement, which cannot easily be reversed. In time, if the cause of the clenching is addressed or the mini splint used over a long period of of time, the jaw muscles may reduce in size of their own accord, like any other muscle which is not over-exercised. Some people even resort to
Botox to artificially cut off the muscle tone in the face muscles.
More useful information
and more here too.
One solution (or part of it- at least)
This can be a complex problem but over 10 years we have found that one simple approach to diagnosis and sometimes treatment is the complicated sounding
NTI-tss “mini splint”.
This approach is "conservative" and "reversible."
Try this simple test yourself now .........
What is the
NTI-tss mini splint and how are they made?
If you think you have one or more of these problems and are within an hour or so of
Newbury and you would like a free initial discussion worth £50, just call Chris Charon our Treatment co
ordinator for a chat over coffee soon on 01635 47757
