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Do you grind your teeth at night? Are you constantly clenching your teeth throughout the day? There is a medical condition for what you are experiencing called Bruxism. Bruxism is the medical term for grinding, gnashing or clenching your teeth and it affects both children and adults.

People that are affected with bruxism unconsciously clench their teeth together during the day, often when they feel anxious or tense. This is different from tooth grinding or clenching that occurs at night, which is called sleep bruxism. Most children who are bruxers do so at night, while adults are either daytime or nighttime bruxers. People that are affected with bruxism might not even conciously be affected by the condition, however it can be severe enough to lead to headaches, jaw disorders such as TMJ and damaged teeth.

Unfortunately, people with sleep bruxism usually aren’t aware of the habit, so they aren’t diagnosed with the condition until complications occur. That’s why it’s important to know the signs and symptoms of bruxism and to seek regular dental care.

Symptoms of Bruxism

The signs and symptoms of bruxism can sometimes be different for each person. While each person can include a single symptom or multiple symptoms, the symptoms of Bruxism may include:

• Teeth grinding or clenching, which may be loud enough to wake your sleep partner
• Teeth that are worn down, flattened or chipped
• Worn tooth enamel, exposing the inside of your tooth
• Increased tooth sensitivity
• Jaw pain or tightness in your jaw muscles
• Earache — because of severe jaw muscle contractions, not a problem with your ear
• Headache
• Chronic facial pain
• Chewed tissue on the inside of your cheek

If you are experiencing more than two of these symptoms, you should read on to help determine if you need to take further action.

Causes of Bruxism

There are many causes of bruxism and even most doctor’s don’t fully understand the causes yet. For daytime bruxism, it has been thought that abnormal alignment of upper and lower teeth (malocclusion) may contribute to bruxism. Sleep bruxism is believed to be related to changes that occur during sleep cycles in some individuals. Since each person is different and can have different causes, there is ongoing research to determine if there are common causes related to day and night buxism.

In adults there seems to be factors that are psychological in nature that lead to increased buxism. Factors such as stress, anxiety or tension can trigger buxism during the day. Suppressed anger or frustration can also trigger this. An aggressive, competitive or hyperactive personality type also seems to be a leading trait common to buxism.

In children, bruxism tends to be related more to growth and development of the jaws and teeth. There is thoughts that children grinding their teeth because their top and bottom teeth don’t fit together comfortably as they are coming in. Others believe that children grind their teeth because of tension, anger, or as a response to pain from an earache or teething. Buxism is statistically shown in up to 30% of children, however most of them outgrow it when their adult teeth fully come in.

Testing and diagnosis of Bruxism

Probably the most common way to determine if you have bruxism is during a routine dental visit. Your dentist will probably check for signs of bruxism. If you are having continued breakdown of your teeth, enamel surfaces or dental fixtures, your dentist is likely to monitor you for bruxism and possibly recommend something to help further determine if you truly have bruxism.

If your dentist suspects that you have bruxism, he or she will try to determine its cause by asking questions about your stress level, your general dental health, your daily medications, and whether you routinely drink alcohol or caffeinated beverages, especially during the evening. If you share your bedroom, your dentist may also ask your roommate or bed partner about your sleep habits, especially about any unusual grinding sounds heard during the night.

To evaluate the extent of bruxism, your dentist will examine your mouth and jaw, checking for tenderness in your jaw muscles and any obvious dental abnormalities, such as broken or missing teeth or poor tooth alignment. Your dentist will also inspect your teeth, the underlying bone and the inside of your cheeks for damage caused by bruxism. He or she may make a series of X-rays of your mouth and jaw.

A dental examination may detect other disorders that can cause similar jaw or ear pain, such as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders or other dental disorders. If your dentist suspects that you have an ear infection (otitis media), he or she will probably refer you to your primary care provider for further examination and treatment. If your dentist suspects a significant psychological component to your teeth grinding or a sleep-related disorder, you may be referred to a therapist, counselor or sleep specialist.

Treatments for Bruxism

In many cases, no treatment is necessary. Many kids outgrow bruxism without special treatment, and many adults don’t brux badly enough to require therapy. However, if the problem is severe, treatment options include:

• Stress management.
  • If you grind your teeth because of stress, you may be able to prevent the problem with professional counseling or strategies that promote relaxation, such as exercise and meditation. If your child grinds his or her teeth because of tension or fear, it may help your child to talk about his or her fears just before bed or to relax with a warm bath or a favorite book.
• Dental approaches.
  • If you or your child has bruxism, your doctor may suggest a mouth guard or protective dental appliance (splint) to prevent damage to the teeth. Your dentist can make a custom mouth guard to fit your mouth. Over-the-counter mouth guards are available and they’re less expensive than custom guards, but they generally don’t fit well and can dislodge during bruxing.
  • If your bruxism seems to be associated with dental problems, your dentist may also correct misaligned teeth. In severe cases — when tooth wear has led to sensitivity or the inability to chew properly — your dentist may need to use overlays or crowns to entirely reshape the chewing surfaces of your teeth. Reconstructive treatment can be quite extensive and though it will correct the wear, it may not stop the bruxism.
• Behavior therapy.
  • Once you discover that you have bruxism, you may be able to change the behavior by practicing proper mouth and jaw position. Concentrate on resting your tongue upward with your teeth apart and your lips closed. This should keep your teeth from grinding and your jaw from clenching. If you’re having a hard time changing your habits, you may benefit from biofeedback, a form of complementary and alternative medicine that uses a variety of monitoring procedures and equipment to teach you to control involuntary body responses.
  • During a biofeedback session, a therapist applies electrical sensors to different parts of your body. These sensors monitor your body’s physiological responses to stress — such as teeth grinding — and then feed the information back to you via auditory and visual cues. These cues may take the form of a beeping sound or a flashing light. With this feedback, you’ll start to associate teeth grinding or clenching with stress and learn to change your behavior. You may also be given a portable biofeedback device that you use at home. Your therapist will explain how it works.
• Medications.
  • In general, medications aren’t very effective for treatment of bruxism. In some cases, your doctor may suggest taking a muscle relaxant before bedtime. If you develop bruxism as a side effect of an antidepressant medication, your doctor may change your medication or prescribe another medication to counteract your bruxism. Botulinum toxin (Botox) injections may help some people with severe bruxism that hasn’t responded to other treatments.

Natural Remedies for Buxism

These self-care steps may prevent or help treat bruxism:

• Reduce stress. Keeping your life stresses to a minimum may reduce your risk of developing bruxism.
• Talk to your sleep partner. If you have a roommate or bed partner, ask him or her to be aware of any grinding or clicking sounds that you might make while sleeping. Your sleep partner can then let you know if he or she notices any teeth-grinding sounds in the night.
• Have regular dental exams. Dental exams are the best way to screen against bruxism, especially if you live alone or don’t have a sleep partner who can observe bruxism at night. Your dentist can best spot signs of bruxism in your mouth and jaw with regular visits and examinations.

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