The Dangers Of Grinding Your Teeth
In fiction, grinding your teeth is one of the classic signs of stress and anger, up there with pulling out your hair and flipping various pieces of furniture. However, grinding your teeth, or “bruxism,” is a habit that can develop even without any significant stress or anger. Worst of all, you may never even realize you have it until you’ve already chipped a tooth or popped a filling.
Underlying Causes
The novels are right enough in that bruxism is often brought on by persistent high stress, but the grinding episode doesn’t necessarily have to happen during the stressful moment. Oftentimes it will happen in the middle of the night while you’re asleep and unaware of your own actions. That makes it hard to figure out what’s happening unless someone who sleeps in the same room as you notices the grinding noise you make. Failing that, either you or your dentist will have to identify the damage you’re causing to your teeth and successfully identify the cause.
Stress isn’t the only factor that can lead to bruxism. It can also be the end result of brain damage or a neurological disease, and certain psychiatric medications can also sometimes cause a person to start grinding his or her teeth.
Long- And Short-Term Solutions
Once your dentist has successfully diagnosed you with bruxism, you’ll need to act quickly to prevent any more damage. A dentist can you with provide special equipment, such as a bite splint or a night bite plate, either of which can protect your teeth. With that accomplished, you can focus more on the true causes behind the grinding, at least if it’s possible to address them.
Children with nocturnal bruxism often start as their permanent teeth start to grow in, and this can cause damage which is likewise permanent. However, they will often stop as spontaneously as they began by the age of 13, and so they can wear a night bite plate until this unusual stage in the child’s life ends.
In teenagers and adults, bruxism both nocturnal and otherwise is most often related to persistent, unavoidable stress, and so removing that stress can be a long and involved process. Other causes may mean having to wear a splint forever, but when the alternative is permanent damage to your teeth, the choice is clear.
A lot of strange and unusual things can happen while we’re asleep, and not all of them are limited to our dreams. If you find that your teeth are wearing down or wiggling loose and you have no idea why, you should contact your dentist right away before the situation grows worse. Here at Community Dental Group, we serve Thousand Oaks, California and the surrounding area, and if you live nearby we’ll gladly help you with all your dental needs.