Teeth Clenching

[Buckeye]

Why do I clench my teeth? Has anyone had this problem/habit and been able to get rid of it?

The daytime clenching is greatly reduced (although not completely gone) since I am living a relatively stress-free life at this point. The nighttime clenching does not seem to have been reduced at all.

Why do humans do this? I'm sick of it and don't know how to make it stop!

 

[Orchidflower]

Lots on the net about this. Usually clenching is due to stress. Take a hint and go to yoga or start working out. I used to be a teeth clencher, too, and I only know it because any Dentist I saw mentioned it. Luckily for me, I was asleep and not aware of it, but I was aware I was often under stress.
There is also some plastic thing they sell for teeth clenchers to wear at night. That, also, is checkable on the net.

 

[Buckeye]

I have a custom nightguard I got from the dentist several years ago but I still wake up with a headache from the muscles being tense all night.

The only stress I have is I might get a job offer in January (when they return to work) from my last interview! I feel like I am living almost stress free but it wouldn't hurt to get more exercise. I've been a bit of a slacker lately.

I was hoping someone could pass along the magic bullet that worked for them.

 

[bruce1]

I used to do the same but it stopped when I retired with no particular action on my part. If I am stressed or worried it returns. This is probably not much help but offered for info.
Bruce

 

[Orchidflower]

Maybe others are luckier than I, but the only stress reducers I know are sex and exercise (same difference often...I said often, by the way). No sex now, so I have to work out..ha! But I don't clench my teeth anymore.

Yeah, I kept waiting for that magic bullet to lose weight this past year, but, unfortunately, along with No Santa there's no magic bullet. Exercise it is then, kid.

 

[Buckeye]

Maybe others are luckier than I, but the only stress reducers I know are sex and exercise (same difference often...I said often, by the way). No sex now, so I have to work out..ha! But I don't clench my teeth anymore.

Doing both may solve the problem twice as fast!

 

[Orchidflower]

I should be so lucky....har! Someday in the future maybe...

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I began clenching my teeth as a teenager because I thought it looked cool (a la Clint Eastwood). Then my dentist noticed the wear on my teeth. Doh! I stopped during the day, but how to stop while sleeping?
He was a licensed hynotist (sounds whacko I know but my parents picked him, an older German immigrant) and he claimed I could hypnotize myself to stop. He said that I should say to myself just before going to sleep, "I will not clench my teeth. If I begin to clench my teeth, I will wake up, and stop clenching my teeth." As I recall, I did wake up a few times with clenched teeth, but in a remarkably short time, I was cured. Placebo effect or not, it worked.
But now I hear they have plastic mouthguards that sound a lot more sensible than German immigrant hypnotist dentists. Still, you might try hypnotizing yourself, the price is right.

 

[Buckeye]

I began clenching my teeth as a teenager because I thought it looked cool (a la Clint Eastwood). Then my dentist noticed the wear on my teeth. Doh! I stopped during the day, but how to stop while sleeping?
He was a licensed hynotist (sounds whacko I know but my parents picked him, an older German immigrant) and he claimed I could hypnotize myself to stop. He said that I should say to myself just before going to sleep, "I will not clench my teeth. If I begin to clench my teeth, I will wake up, and stop clenching my teeth." As I recall, I did wake up a few times with clenched teeth, but in a remarkably short time, I was cured. Placebo effect or not, it worked.
But now I hear they have plastic mouthguards that sound a lot more sensible than German immigrant hypnotist dentists. Still, you might try hypnotizing yourself, the price is right.

This doesn't sound wacky to me. I use the same technique to wake myself up at a desired time. I set my alarm as a backup but I don't like to be awakened by it so I tell myself to wake up a few minutes before the alarm time I set.

I have a good nightguard to protect my teeth but I wake up with a headache every morning which is a drag.

 

[Orchidflower]

I never woke up with headaches, never woke up with clenched teeth, nothing and no symptoms. I only know cause maybe 4 different Dentists pointed it out by the wear on my choppers. So, obviously, you can be clenching and not aware of it. I guess I was grinding on my teeth in my sleep.

 

[Dog]

I wear a night guard, but still wake up with soreness in my jaw and sometimes a light headache. I also clench my jaw during the day. I try to relieve the tightness in my jaw by opening my mouth as wide as possible to release the tension (similar to lion's breath in yoga). I carry my stress in my upper shoulders/neck/jaw. I exercise almost everyday (sometimes 2x day) which includes yoga 2x week. I'm a worrier and a bit of a control freak...so it is no mystery why I clench my jaw.

 

[Kroeran]

I have a custom nightguard I got from the dentist several years ago but I still wake up with a headache from the muscles being tense all night.

The only stress I have is I might get a job offer in January (when they return to work) from my last interview! I feel like I am living almost stress free but it wouldn't hurt to get more exercise. I've been a bit of a slacker lately.

I was hoping someone could pass along the magic bullet that worked for them.

there are some home fitted guards that you can get in the drugstore that are softer, which might reduce the strain on your jaw. The dentist is just concerned with protecting your teeth. I found his guard to be very hard, at least until the dog got hold of it.

there is a third type I recall reading about which fits on the front of your teeth, which I believe reduces the strain on jaw

did you start clenching after retiring? maybe you need to get back to work.

I developed a grinding issue during a financial crisis a few years back

If you are open to trying something kooky, some people believe that this sort of "acting out" on the part of your mind is a cry for help

after making sure that work or lack thereof is a positive contribution to your lifestyle, and reviewing your exercise and overall relationship to what I call anthropological correctness (nature, gardening, animals), its possible that your creative mind, we all have one, is cranky with you.

maybe take a drawing class (with nude models)....I can think of worse things to try

 

[Orchidflower]

Yeah, I'd say grinding your teeth would be an unconscious way of crying for help. I needed help...and money during those early years I was grinding. Having no soft pillow to land on if I fell, I had a pretty rough time in my 20's and early 30's, but, amazingly, I got thru it safely until I started making enough to not have to live more-or-less hand to mouth. Not an unusual story I assume in American business.
Lack of money probably is causing alot of grinding now in this economy I should think.

 

[Tesaje]

Me too. I've got a custom appliance to protect my teeth. I've used the ones in the drugstore but they make me drool (yuck!). Wonder if it will get better after I retire? Sometimes, I get the sore jaw despite the appliance but most of the time I don't. It does seem to be stress related but it is involuntary while I'm unconscious so it is hard to control.

 

[Buckeye]

did you start clenching after retiring? maybe you need to get back to work.

I developed a grinding issue during a financial crisis a few years back

If you are open to trying something kooky, some people believe that this sort of "acting out" on the part of your mind is a cry for help

after making sure that work or lack thereof is a positive contribution to your lifestyle, and reviewing your exercise and overall relationship to what I call anthropological correctness (nature, gardening, animals), its possible that your creative mind, we all have one, is cranky with you.

maybe take a drawing class (with nude models)....I can think of worse things to try

I got the nightguard at least 10 years ago so this has been an ongoing problem. Might I also be a first-born, worrier, control freak? Surely not!

I'm like DOG in that I was also constantly scrunching up my shoulders. I would tell myself to relax my shoulders and catch myself doing it again within 30 seconds.

Being out of work has greatly reduced the amount of daytime shoulder scrunching and jaw clenching but I don't seem to have made much progress on not doing it while sleeping. The fear of someone offering me a job is probably what is stressing me out. I ran the numbers through Firecalc and it appears I may not have to go back to work. That's got me a little freaked out also.

So are you recommending the drawing or the modeling?

 

[freebird5825]

Never a grinder, but definitely a chronic clencher while w*rking. My dentist ruled out TMJ when I described medium pain and aching in the jaw.
Post FIRE, not a problem. I do notice that I will automatically clench if there is any sort of stress, a very infrequent issue these days.
La de da de da

 

[Khan]

Never a grinder, but definitely a chronic clencher while w*rking. My dentist ruled out TMJ when I described medium pain and aching in the jaw.
Post FIRE, not a problem. I do notice that I will automatically clench if there is any sort of stress, a very infrequent issue these days.
La de da de da

Clenching tapered off after retirement. September '08 (when the electricity was out for 6 days) I started clenching again.

 

[Buckeye]

I clicked on one of the ads that appeared at the top of this thread. There's a dental lab in GA you can access directly instead of going through a dentist for nightguards or whitening. Takes out the middleman. Interesting.

Precision Dental Works.

 

[bbbamI]

I've had this problem. I finally went to my dentist because a molar was causing some pain. Since I had undergone a root canal in that tooth, be believed I was clenching my teeth. He asked if I had been under stress and I said no. He didn't want me to use a mouth guard just yet. He suggested I drink a little wine before I go to bed and see if that helped.

It did.

During that week I thought about what could be giving me stress. Well, a couple of weeks before I had spent time with my family and some of the time while I was there was not very pleasant. Even though I didn't feel stressed in my mind, I realized my body could be reacting to stress. After another week went by, I stopped clenching my teeth...without the wine.

 

[NW-Bound]

I never woke up with headaches, never woke up with clenched teeth...

Same here.

I only know cause maybe 4 different Dentists pointed it out by the wear on my choppers. So, obviously, you can be clenching and not aware of it. I guess I was grinding on my teeth in my sleep.

Some of my molars have been ground down flat and their enamel layers so thin that the teeth became sensitive to hot and cold. Result: I have caps on a few, and now wear a night guard.

 

[Orchidflower]

Stress can do things to you--and you can be so completely unaware you are under stress--that it's shocking. For example, a couple weeks ago or so I was going to have a colonoscopy. Every time I was telling someone I was going to have it I would not be able to pronounce the word on the first few tries (colon-os-copy). Trust me, I'm pretty articulate, so I thought that was weird that I kept stumbling over such a simple word...but didn't dwell on it.
So, I have the colonoscopy, the Dr. said "looking good" to me afterward...and viola! I can say colonoscopy without stumbling immediately. Naturally, the light bulb went off as to why I kept stumbling over the word before, but, if you had asked me if I was nervous about going to have the colonoscopy I would have said "no."
Of course, I realize now it was unconscious stress on me cause my Grandma died of colon Cancer, and I lived with her for awhile during the end and have always been afraid of getting it.
Unconscious stress can really do you in without your even being aware of it. Hence, the tooth clenching. Just my theory, anyway.

 

[Buckeye]

He suggested I drink a little wine before I go to bed and see if that helped.

I don't think wine has worked in the past but I'm going to keep trying!

 

[Buckeye]

Same here.



Some of my molars have been ground down flat and their enamel layers so thin that the teeth became sensitive to hot and cold. Result: I have caps on a few, and now wear a night guard.

A small area of metal shows on one of my ceramic molar crowns where I have ground off the top layer of ceramic. Two of my molars one side (top & bottom) are extremely sensitive to cold and it really affects my quality of life. One has a crown and has had a root canal. How can the stupid thing still be sensitive to cold?

 

[toofrugalformycat]

A small area of metal shows on one of my ceramic molar crowns where I have ground off the top layer of ceramic. Two of my molars one side (top & bottom) are extremely sensitive to cold and it really affects my quality of life. One has a crown and has had a root canal. How can the stupid thing still be sensitive to cold?

I am not a medical professional, so I'm speaking purely from my uneducated experience.
I've had sensitive teethy my entire life, and now that I'm long in the tooth, some of the root is exposed and that is sensitive for many people. Have you tried toothpaste for sensitive teeth? If one brand doesn't work, try another. I know it looks like they all have the same active ingredient, but my hygienist insisted I keep trying. I finally found Crest Pro Health worked for me, but YMMV. Before I found this brand, I had to learn to not smile when I skiied because the cold air hurt too much.
Your pain in the root canalled tooth may be referred pain from another tooth.

 

[Buckeye]

I am not a medical professional, so I'm speaking purely from my uneducated experience.
I've had sensitive teethy my entire life, and now that I'm long in the tooth, some of the root is exposed and that is sensitive for many people. Have you tried toothpaste for sensitive teeth? If one brand doesn't work, try another. I know it looks like they all have the same active ingredient, but my hygienist insisted I keep trying. I finally found Crest Pro Health worked for me, but YMMV. Before I found this brand, I had to learn to not smile when I skiied because the cold air hurt too much.
Your pain in the root canalled tooth may be referred pain from another tooth.

ProHealth worked for awhile but it doesn't seem to be helping much anymore. I guess I'm going to have to try another one. I've heard flouride rinses help but I haven't tried it.