Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and your teeth are clenched, and you can’t seem to unclench them? Are your teeth slowly wearing away? Do you suffer from unexplained jaw soreness and headaches?
You might have bruxism, a condition in which you clench or grind your teeth.
You can work through awake bruxism by staying mindful of the position of your teeth during the day, but if you’re grinding teeth at night, it can be a little more difficult.
Here are a few things you can do.
Wear a Mouth Guard
A dentist can have you fitted for a custom mouth guard that fits comfortably over your teeth. You wear the mouth guard at night and it prevents your top and bottom teeth from grinding together.
You can also buy a mouth guard in a store or online. You’ll have to boil it and mold it to your teeth first before using it. Try visiting https://www.bruxnightguard.com to look into the cost-effective mouth guard they offer.
De-Stress Before Bed
Stress can make you grind your teeth at night, so doing calming things throughout the day and before bed can help you stop grinding your teeth.
Exercise regularly, cut back on caffeine and alcohol and try getting a massage. Meditation, yoga, and taking a warm bath in the evening can also relax your muscles and keep you from grinding your teeth in your sleep. Simply holding a warm compress in front of your earlobes can also be enough to relax the muscles in that area.
Cut Back on Chewing
The motion of chewing involves clenching and unclenching your teeth. If you have bruxism, this is what your teeth do when you sleep. Reducing this motion when you’re awake will reduce it happening when you sleep.
Steer clear of gum and try to avoid gnawing on pens. Try to avoid eating chewy foods like red meats. They can get your jaw muscles accustomed to clenching, leading to you grinding your teeth more.
Avoiding chewy foods may also help reduce jaw soreness.
Get Botox Injections
Getting Botox injections doesn’t work for everyone with teeth grinding issues, but it has yielded amazing results for some.
Injecting a small amount of botox into the masseter muscle, the muscle responsible for clenching teeth—can relax or paralyze the area, leading to a reduction in teeth clenching.
Seek Professional Help
Two possible causes of bruxism are anxiety and depression. If you suffer from one or both of these, working things out with a mental health professional can yield some positive results. In turn, the grinding should be alleviated.
Relief from Grinding Teeth at Night
If you struggle with grinding teeth at night, you might find yourself with a sore jaw, frequent headaches, and loved ones who have trouble sleeping due to the noise you’re making. Remedying your teeth grinding will solve more than one problem.
Be sure to check back regularly for more health tips, and to share this article if you found it helpful!