Home Remedies For Bruxism

Bruxism or teeth grinding is one of most damaging forms of dental disorders. This condition is usually difficult to detect in the early stages as the patient is completely oblivious of this habit. It leads to clenching and grinding of the teeth along with extreme jaw movements.

You can suffer facial pain due to the clenching - clamping the top and bottom teeth together. This stressful act puts pressure on the muscles, tissues and the areas around the jaw. It can lead to serious problems like jaw joint disorders, jaw pain, headaches, earaches, damaged teeth and many others. This continuous form of grinding damages the teeth completely.

This condition is very common among children but it is not only restricted to them. It is a very common problem among people with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. The teeth clenching and teeth grinding may lead to Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ). Home Remedies for Bruxism Before retiring to bed you can chew on an apple, cauliflower or carrot.

This will calm your overactive mouth and prevent grinding. To relax your jaw muscles use a warm washcloth around the sides of your face. Continue doing this for sometime. This will relax the clenched muscles that cause head pain. Do it before bedtime to benefit more. Be relaxed and avoid stress by taking warm baths and massages. Massage your neck muscles, shoulders and face to relax peacefully.

Stress relieving exercises should help you unwind. Squeeze a tennis ball; it may come in handy to get rid of the stress. Sleeping on your side or your stomach may increase your chances of bruxism. The best position to sleep is on your back to reduce the stress. Use contoured pillow if you can't sleep on your back. Place the contoured pillow under you face and the ordinary pillow between your arms.

Sleeping in this position reduces the strain on your jaw and neck and prevents you from rolling over onto your face. Avoid consumption of alcohol as it inadvertently affects your sleep and increases the movement of your jaw which causes clenching. Cut down on caffeine and carbohydrates like candy and pastries.

Try acupressure, it may help you relax for a good night sleep thus avoiding any incidents of teeth clenching or grinding. Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.

Treatment Approaches for Bruxism in Children

Sleep problems are frequent among healthy school going children seen at general pediatric practice. Sleep related problems were reported in 42.7% children that included nocturnal enuresis (18.4%), sleep talking (14.6%), bruxism (11.6%) nightmares (6.8%), night terrors (2.9%) snoring (5.8%) and sleepwalking (1.9%). Bruxism is a destructive habit. It is defined as the nonproductive diurnal or nocturnal clenching or grinding of the teeth.

Bruxism happens in about 15 percent of youngsters and in as many as 96 percent of grown-ups. The etiology of bruxism is unclear. It has been linked with stress, occlusal disorders, allergies and sleep positioning. In addition, type A personality behavior combined with stress is more predictive of bruxism. Because of its nonspecific pathology, bruxism may be difficult to diagnose.

Beside complaints from sleep partners, clenching-grinding, sleep bruxism, myofacial pain, craniomaxillofacial musculoskeletal pain, temporomandibular disorders, oro-facial pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue spectrum disorders are linked. The main clinical signs of bruxism comprise tooth wear, tooth mobility, hypertrophy masticatory muscles, and tender joints. Other symptoms of bruxism are multiple and diverse. They include temporomandibular joint pain and dysfunction, head and neck pain, erosion, abrasion, loss of and damage to supporting structures, headaches, oral infection, tooth sensitivity muscle pain and spasm, disturbance of aesthetics, and interference and oral discomfort.

Treatment for bruxism may be simple or complex, depending on the nature of the disorder. Severe bruxism disorders are difficult to treat and their prognoses also may be questionable. Children with bruxism are generally managed with observation and reassurance. Most of the children's bruxism habit will disappear naturally as they grow up. Adults may be managed with stress reduction therapy, modification of sleep positioning, drug therapy, biofeedback training, physical therapy and dental evaluation. Correction of the malocclusion with orthodontic procedures, restorative procedures, or occlusal adjustment by selective grinding will not control the bruxism habit.

What about prevention? Researchers have found only a weak correlation between different types of morphologic malocclusion such as Class II and III molar relationship, deep bite, overjet, and dental wear or grinding. Moreover, there is no correlation between periodontal disease and bruxism in children. Because the malocclusions' status in children does not increase the probability of bruxism, early orthodontic treatment (braces) to prevent bruxism is not scientifically justified.

Bruxism is a destructive habit that may result in severe dental deterioration. Bruxism in childhood may be a persistent trait. The occlusal trauma and tooth wear in childhood bruxism can be succeeded by increased anterior tooth wear 20 years later. If your child has significant tooth attrition, dental mobility or tooth fracture may happen. Therefore, it is mandatory to take your child to your dentist for evaluation.

Gritting of Teeth (bruxism)

The first sign of your child’s gritting of teeth can be sounds you may hear in the night. If you hear a mysterious sound, resembling some creak, coming from a child’s room, come to him and learn.

Bruxism (greeting of teeth) occurs as a result of rhythmic clonus of masticatory muscles, accompanied by low sound, resembling gritting or clicking. During bruxism, a change of pulse, arterial pressure, breath etc. takes place. This phenomenon during sleep is met rather often. Mechanisms of bruxism origin are still not clear.

No personal changes, typical for those who suffer from bruxism were found. It is considered that bruxism can be one of displays of defects of sleep regulation, like somnambulism, night enuresis and nightmares. It was discovered that these phenomena are displayed more often under epilepsy.

Bruxism is found in 5-15% cases in population, and in about 50% of children. There’re facts about inherited predisposition to bruxism. Bruxism causes no problems for majority of children, and many of them get out of this habit with time. During sleep, you may notice several episodes of bruxism, lasting up to 10 seconds. If bruxism’s episodes last longer and are extremely intensive, then this may lead to damage of teeth and surrounding soft parts.

During severe fits of bruxism a child may wake up in the morning with headache, toothache and even painful feelings in his face. This may turn out to be very serious. If gritting of teeth lasts for more than months and years, teeth can undergo significant wear. Moreover, this may damage the joint that helps lower jaw to join a side of head.

If your child is gritting his teeth all the time, you should consult a dentist, which can make a special tire for your child, which won’t allow teeth to adjoin. If your child is gritting his teeth only sometimes, then you can try to use methods, recommended by experts, or you may also use them together with a tire in his mouth.

Give rest to jaws. If your child doesn’t chew, swallow or talk, his upper and lower teeth shouldn’t adjoin. If teeth adjoin, there’s only one step to gritting left. Explain to a child and ask him to try keeping his teeth slightly pulled out, when his jaws are relaxed.

Encourage exercising. Regular exercises can help your child to relieve stress and muscle tension, which lead to a night gritting of teeth.

Calm occupations before going to bed. A child shouldn’t take part in some struggle, drawing and other impetuous games before going to bed. Strained muscles need time to relax, before a child falls asleep. Create a calm atmosphere for your child 1 hour before he goes to bed. You can read a book or give him a possibility to read or look through pictures by himself during this period.

Try to put your child to bed earlier. Probably, your child is just too tired, and this may lead to gritting of teeth in the night. In this case, earlier going to bed may help him. If your child usually went to bed at 9 pm, try to put him to bed at 8 pm.

Avoid eating before going to bed. If digestive juices are working in the night, this may lead to excess tension of a baby during sleep. Don’t give anything to your child, except water, an hour before he goes to bed.

Speak with a child about his problems. If your child is worried with some difficult home task or a coming school performance, this may serve as a reason that makes him gritting his teeth in the night. If something worries a child, don’t let him go to bed with this anxiety in his head. Talk to him before he goes to bed, so that all troubles would leave him, this often helps to relieve tension. Make a 5 or 10 minutes conversation a daily sedative procedure before your child falls asleep.

Apply warm, wet compresses. If your child’s jaw aches in the morning, moisten a terry-cloth tissue in warm water, squeeze it and apply to an aching jaw till your child feels better. This will help to calm down pain.

Stop Mouth Grinding At Night

Just because you go to sleep, it doesn’t mean you leave the stress of the day behind. You could be grinding your jaw all night. To stop it, you need to know the following.

The medical term for grinding your jaw at night is bruxism. Bruxism can occur during the day or at night, but mostly at night. In both cases, people are generally not aware that they are grinding. They might catch themselves doing it during the day or they might be told by someone that they do it at night.

No one is quite sure what causes individuals to grind away. In some instances, teeth are not aligned properly and this can cause them to grind together. In most cases, however, doctors believe that the cause of bruxism is psychological. People who have anxiety or high levels of stress tend to grind their teeth more. Anger or frustration can cause bruxism. There is also some evidence to suggest that people who have “Type A” personalities are more prone to grinding their teeth. People with Type A personalities are usually aggressive, competitive and can sometimes be hyperactive. Bruxism can always be a symptom of another disorder. People with Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, cerebral palsy or mental retardation will sometimes grind their teeth as a side effect of their disorder. Some antidepressants and other medications can cause teeth grinding as well. In children, bruxism is often related to normal growth and usually will stop as the child matures.

People typically find out that they are grinding their teeth because someone tells them that they are doing it. Sometimes it is loud enough to wake up the person they are sleeping next to. A dentist might notice that teeth have become worn down or chipped. There might be pain in the jaw, teeth, face or ears. The inside of the cheeks might be irritated or swollen.

Children with bruxism are usually not treated. The expectation is that they will grow out of it as they age. In adults, bruxism is treated if it is severe or is causing pain or damage to the teeth. Dentists often treat bruxism through the use of a mouth guard. A mouth guard is fitted for the individual’s mouth and worn while they sleep. This will not stop the person from grinding their teeth, but it will help prevent further damage.

There are a few things that can help prevent bruxism. First, stress should be eliminated or reduced as much as possible. If the bruxism typically occurs at night, an evening routine of a warm bath, a cup of decaf tea and some relaxing music can help. Counseling and exercise are good for reducing the overall stress level. It also is helpful to reduce the amount of tobacco, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol consumed as they tend to increase occurrences of bruxism. Once someone is aware that they grind their teeth, they can try to relax their jaw during the day. People who suffer from bruxism should be monitored by their dentist to ensure that they are not damaging their teeth.