Grinding or clenching your teeth?

Teeth grinding can be caused not just by stress and anxiety but by sleep disorders, an abnormal bite or teeth that are missing or crooked. The symptoms of teeth grinding include:

• dull headaches
• jaw soreness
• teeth that are painful or loose
• fractured teeth

If stress is the cause you need to find a way to relax. Meditation, counseling and exercise can all help reduce stress and anxiety. Grinding or Clenching technical term is called bruxism, and often it happens as you sleep. Not to worry Bruxism is a common problem and can be treated.

We may have a solution.

One option is an Occlusal Splint

We can fit you with an occlusal splint to protect your teeth during sleep. The benefit is to reduce the tooth wear that may accompany grinding. Splints may also reduce muscle strain by allowing the upper and lower jaw to move easily with respect to each other. Treatment goals are to constrain the bruxing pattern to avoid damage to the TM Joint by aiming to stabilize the occlusion.

Another option is a partial splint.

The (NTI-TSS) dental guard. This splint sits onto the upper front teeth only. It is theorized to prevent tissue damages primarily by reducing the bite force from attempts to close the jaw normally into a forward twisting of the lower front teeth. The intent is for the brain to interpret the nerve sensations as undesirable, automatically and subconsciously reducing clenching force.