Grinding teeth in sleep

introduction

Grinding teeth in sleep takes place without conscious influence from the subconscious.
Grinding teeth during sleep usually goes unnoticed by the person concerned and is often only discovered by the partner through the noise.

If left untreated, symptoms such as Muscle aches, Toothache or Melt loss and thus sensitive teeth.

causes

Teeth grinding can have various causes. One of the main causes is psychological and physical stress, which then manifests itself in the affected person in the form of teeth grinding. As the body recovers at night, it tries to process the stress, often by unconsciously crunching. When the psychological pressure subsides, you often stop unwanted clenching of your teeth.

But with chronic stress, those affected can suffer from so-called bruxism for years, which ultimately causes permanent damage to the teeth and brings problems with the temporomandibular joint.

Another reason for teeth grinding can be the anatomy of the teeth or misaligned teeth. Here, disturbing early contacts occur between the upper and lower jaw, which the body wants to grind away with the help of grinding in order to achieve a correct bite. The same problem sometimes occurs with new prostheses or crowns that have been designed too high and thus also cause annoying early contacts. In these cases the dentist should be consulted, who can remove the imperfections.

Read more on the topic: Causes of grinding teeth

Symptoms

The grinding of teeth during sleep is usually noticed in the morning, and it rarely wakes you up.
Clenching often causes toothache in the morning, and it can also happen that you feel a slight numbness in the lower jaw.

The muscles are often tense and painful in the morning. If the muscles are carefully palpated, the tiniest nodules can be felt after prolonged grinding of the teeth. a headache are not uncommon when grinding teeth at night.

Consequences of crunching during sleep

Grinding one's teeth is not without consequences. Headaches can result in the short term. The reason for this is the constant activity of the masticatory muscles, which leads to tension in them. These tension then usually cause headaches, which can be very uncomfortable.There are also temporomandibular joint problems that can also cause pain. Over the years the grinding leads to the wear of the teeth. Those affected usually complain of aesthetic problems, as the shape of the teeth is changed and the exposed dentin has an unsightly yellow color.

Also read the article: Nocturnal teeth grinding

Grinding teeth in children

Not only adults suffer from teeth grinding, children can also be affected. But as a parent, you don't have to be concerned immediately. Grinding one's teeth can be completely normal behavior in children up to the age of three.

This can be justified by the fact that during this time the milk teeth break through and the body first has to find a real bite. To optimize this, excessive tooth proportions are reduced by the grinding and the result is a bite with evenly distributed contacts between the upper and lower jaw.

However, grinding teeth in children can also be caused by stress and psychological stress. Therefore, parents should take a closer look and consider whether the child has had any recent traumatic events or feels pressured. Children often hide emotional problems from their parents, which is why it is very important to talk to them in order to find out possible reasons.

Grinding splint

Splints are widely used in the treatment of bruxism. They are made of a hard, transparent plastic that is placed on the teeth as a splint. The main task is to break the direct contact between the teeth of the upper and lower jaw. This prevents the hard tooth substance from grinding away.

In addition, the splint helps the temporomandibular joint to assume a neutral position, which relieves the pressure on it and prevents pain. The masticatory muscles also benefit from the neutral jaw joint position, as they are more relaxed and therefore cause less headaches during the day.

To make a grinding splint, an impression of the jaw must first be made. A plaster model is then created from this, which is used as the basis for the splint. Since this is made in a laboratory, at least two sessions with the dentist are necessary and the costs are usually covered by the health insurance company.

You can find more about this at: Therapeutic approaches for grinding teeth

homeopathy

Homeopathy offers ways to alleviate the symptoms of grinding your teeth. Globules such as Belladonna can help to reduce the pain that occurs and, depending on the person, take some of the nervousness, which is why you sleep more calmly at night and at best the bruxism does not occur.

However, one should not only rely on homeopathic remedies, as they do not always deliver the desired effect and therefore the trip to the dentist can often not be avoided. Whether the globules bring an improvement, everyone should decide individually for themselves.

Summary

Grinding teeth in sleep is often only noticed by the partner. Since the crunching during sleep is beyond active control, from a dental point of view there is only one therapy using a plastic splint, which should lead to relaxation of the masticatory muscles - and above all a protective layer for your own teeth.