Bruxism and Clenching

Clenching and grinding the teeth accelerates wearing of teeth and can result in cracked or chipped teeth or fillings.  You can also experience jaw and joint pain.

Symptoms of clenching and grinding are:

• frequent unexplained headaches
• clicking and popping of the jaw joint when chewing or opening
• ringing in the ears
• pain in the jaw joint itself
• sometimes radiating to the neck of side of the face

Teeth tend to become flat and have sharp square corners rather than rounded ones.  If this happens to the back, chewing teeth, food is not broken up as efficiently and requires more chewing.  Jaw joints may become traumatised due to the extreme forces that can be applied to the teeth during your sleep.  It is estimated that forces applied during sleep can be as much as 3 to 10 times greater than those you can apply if you clench as hard as you can while awake.

It is not known for certain why some people clench or grind their teeth, but there appears to be a correlation with stress.

There is no "cure" for clenching or grinding your teeth although sometimes it goes away on its own.  Your dentist will advise the most appropriate filling materials for teeth that are damaged due to clenching and grinding.  It is most important to maintain excellent oral hygiene to prevent weak spots developing due to decay.

A splint can be made to protect the teeth from the effects of grinding.  The splint will even out pressure caused by grinding so that particular teeth are not further damaged.  A splint will also alter the neuro-muscular complex responsible for grinding initiation.