How do people know they are grinding their teeth at night? When they are asleep, it is only people beside him or her who hear the sound of the teeth grinding. If someone besides you do not let you know about it, you will never know.
People normally will never ask a question like “How do I grind my teeth when I sleep at night” if they do not feel something wrong with their body. If they wake up with a feeling of dull and painful headache, they would start asking this question, because grinding teeth is the root of the headache and other painful sensation around neck, ear, and shoulders.
How if they do know nothing about teeth grinding and its health implications? Anytime they can’t stand with the dull and painful headache when they wake up in the morning, they will go to see a doctor. Here’s the journey of finding grinding teeth solution is started. Your doctor will send you to a dentist.
What Your Dentist Says?
Your dentist claims teeth grinding is a sleep disorder. It is called bruxism. If you grind your teeth every night in your life, it will cause damage to your chewing muscles, teeth, and jaw joint. A good dentist will show you how to prove the teeth grinding habit by giving you a mirror. Look your teeth and check carefully if all of the teeth appear the same length. If some teeth show flatness, it may come from being worn down from grinding or clenching.
Check Your Parents or Siblings
Grinding teeth habit is inheritable. Try to sleep in the same room as your parents or sibling. If you hear the noise your parents or siblings make as they grind their teeth at night, you shouldn’t be so surprised. You have the chance to inherit the same habit when you are asleep.
If you have had a partner, you shouldn’t do this. Just ask him or her whether they hear a squeaking noise that he would hear late at night that kept him awake. If not, you may feel relief.
Use A Mouth Guard
The squeaking noise may cause serious problem between you and your partner. It’s obvious that no one would love to wake up at late every night because of the noise. To minimize the noise your dentist may make a mouth guard for you. You may not stop grinding your teeth, but at least you can minimize your jaw movement and your partner will sleep well.
Signs for Getting Serious Help
A mild case of teeth grinding habit may not cause serious health problem. Many people with bruxism never complain about headache or earache when they wake up in the morning or when they chew certain foods. The only complain may come from their partners who hear the noise at night, and for this situation, a mouth guard is enough.
But, many other bruxism sufferers who report further health problems such as headache, neck pain, jaw pain, or earache should find help. If you feel you don’t have the grinding habit, but you suffer from those pain, there is a bunch of questions you can ask yourself. These question helps you analyzing the teeth grinding habit that you do unconsciously.
- Do you have neck pain when you wake up in the morning?
- Do you have jaw pain?
- Do you have facial pain?
- Do you get earaches and hear a clicking sound in your jaw when you open or close your mouth?
- Do you feel you have tinnitus?
- Do you feel pain in the area below your ears?
- Do you have sensitive teeth?
- Do you see a white line on the inside of both of your cheek?
- Do you wake up with a dull headache?
- Do you see the edges of your tongue scalloped?
If all the answers are “Yes,” it is easy to conclude that you grind your teeth at night and you have to get the right therapy more than a mouth guard. People are more likely to grind their teeth if they are tense, anxious, exhausted, or frustated. There’s no scientific research to give us understanding why all of those factors lead to teeth grinding. Rather than keeping you busy to find out the root of the problem, people who clench or grind their teeth had better finding other ways to cope, like joining hypnotherapy session, doing yoga, or doing other relaxing activities.
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