I clench the muscles but I don’t grind my teeth together. When I’m stressed out I tense up my jaw and end up with severe pain around my ear. I’ve had two dentists push me to get a bite guard to sleep in despite my telling them that I only clench while I’m awake. I never, ever wake up in pain, and I don’t have any evidence at all of damage to my teeth. They were just trying to sell me expensive equipment by scaring me.
I’ve learned to consciously relax my jaw when I feel the pain starting. A heating pad also does wonders - much better than any pain medication. I bought one of those beanbag things you can toss in the microwave, so I can use it when I’m in pain at work.
I have this problem as well. In my sleep, but also if I am concentrating very hard, or frustrated with something. In my case, it has gotten better since having braces put on to help alleviate a TMJ problem, simply because my teeth just don’t line up with each other the way they used to.
I use a boxing mouth guard. Paying more than $10 for one is ridiculous IMO. There just isn’t the technology there. It’s just some sort of molded plastic. Mine works fine and went a long way towards helping my grinding headaches.
I propose a little plastic device that clips to an upper tooth, with a small needle aimed at the bottom gums. When you clench your teeth, it pokes you painfully. Eventually your subconscious will learn not to clench.
Yup, been a tooth-grinder all my life. I used to have a mouth guard, but it made me gag too much. I do actually find that chewing gum helps. Sometimes I put my tongue between my teeth to force myself to relax my jaw and hold it where it’s supposed to be.
I clench, both sleeping and waking, but it seems to be cyclical… as in, it’s a PMS symptom for me, and I only do it for a few days a month. At those times I just try to consciously relax, also to position my head on the pillow so that my jaw is encouraged to stay slightly open.
I did have a mouth guard made once many years ago. It cost $400 and I got it after an episode of clenching that caused so much pain I thought I had an abscess. I found it uncomfortable and never got used to it. I think that by now my teeth must have shifted so much it wouldn’t fit.
'nother clencher here. got a biteguard, which of course my dental plan didn’t cover. When I conk out on the sofa and don’t put it in, inevitably my teeth hurt in the morning.
I’ve worn a night guard for snoring for the past year or so (which works pretty well, btw) – but starting a few weeks ago it’s caused jaw pain. Stopped wearing it, and the pain goes away slowly and gradually. Tried it again one night, and the pain came back. Stopped wearing it, and had a sandwich on particularly chewy bread yesterday, and the pain came back.
So I apparently have developed TMJ? Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s been a stressful month: just bought a house.
This is interesting. How did you know you grind/clench in your sleep, if you don’t mind saying? I sort of have the opposite problem - sometimes my mouth opens when I sleep, then when I realise it I suddenly close my mouth and end up biting my lip. It happens about once every 2 months.
Over time, bruxism leaves a distinctive wear pattern on the molars, with thinning enamel on the biting surfaces. Your dentist will tell you. I didn’t listen to mine, and ended up needing caps to replace the enamel on my two lower rear molars. I now wear a night guard religiously - actually can’t sleep without it usually, and if I do my teeth hurt now that they’re used to being protected.
Can anyone explain to me how the hell a biteguard is supposed to work?
I’ve had TMJ for decades. Going through a horrible flare-up right now. But the whole reason I have TMJ in the first place is because in HS, when finishing up with my braces, the ortho gave me a plastic retainer (one that is molded to and fits over the lower teeth) to wear at night instead of the “permanent” retainer that had been cemented to the back of my lower teeth. The damn thing was SO uncomfortable that I would reflexively clench my teeth and chew on it in my sleep all night long. A couple months of that, and voila, permanent jaw disorder.
So I fail to see how sticking something else in my mouth while I sleep is going to magically reverse that instead of compounding it ten-fold.
Normally I cope with flare-ups and they resolve by themselves after a month or so. I think I’m going on three months with this one, so I’m researching better options than painkillers and jaw massage. Oddly, eating seems to help. Maybe because I can’t clench and chew at the same time.
