You may have experiencing someone grinding his or her teeth, most likely during sleep. This condition clinically referred to as bruxism can be defined as an act where one consciously or unconsciously grinds and clenches his or her teeth whether during the day or while sleeping. General dentistry notes that this is not only a medical but also dental problem, bearing in mind that it affects both the teeth and the adjust structures including the head.
Bruxism or teeth can be mild and thus require no treatment or on the other hand this condition may be severe enough to the point of causing jaw disorders, damaged teeth, headaches or other problems. However, most people with bruxism are unaware of it, since it happens during the night when one is asleep. To avoid bruxism developing to the point where other problems arise it is imperative that one understands earlier signs and symptoms related to this condition.
Signs and symptoms
- Teeth are flattened, worn down, chipped or fractured
- Tired jaw muscles
- Headache
- Worn teeth enamel, that expose deeper layers of the teeth
- Earache
- Teeth clenching and/or grinding that may be loud enough to awaken your partner
- Chronic facial pain
- Indentation of the tongue
- Increased teeth sensitivity
Common causes of teeth grinding or bruxism may include:
Stress–according to research, stress is the most common cause for bruxism. As a matter of factor most doctors and dentists believe that stress contribute to over half of all the reported cases of bruxism. Stress as we all know can disrupt one’s sleep cycle. This may have many effects including unconscious grinding of teeth particularly when sleeping.
Suppressed anger and frustrations–you may relate to clenching your teeth when you become angry with someone. Though this is more rare, psychologists believe that suppressed anger or frustrations may trigger and/or lead to bruxism. Suppressed anger is fury to those who cannot let it out. This is in most cases hard to manage. People suffering this problem should seek the help of a psychiatrist.
Abnormal teeth alignment–specifically among the lower and the upper teeth or malocclusion is one of the physical causes of bruxism. Dentists believe that this may lead to involuntary grinding of the teeth as sliding over each other.
Other causes may or may not include: aggressive personality, teeth and jaw growth and development.