Grinding your teeth – either while asleep, or absentmindedly while at your desk at work – isn’t ever a pleasant experience. It hurts, causes some jaw issues, can even lead to TMJ disorder, and worst of all, it destroys the biting and chewing surface of your teeth. That’s arguably one of the most important parts of your teeth.
So how do you combat bruxism – the technical word for teeth grinding? Let’s take a look at some options we offer.
Custom mouth guard
The best thing you can do is to use a custom mouth guard while sleeping to protect your teeth from grinding against each other. This mouth guard is worn only at night and when your teeth grind, instead of grinding against each other, they’ll move against the soft, pliable material of the mouth guard. This saves your teeth from serious issues.
Less stress
Research shows that stress is actually one of the causes of bruxism. If you’re in a particularly stressful situation, or have significant stressors in your life, eliminating or learning how to more effectively deal with them can save your teeth from being ground down to useless lumps.
Sleep device
There may also be another way to fix your bruxism. A sleep device is used to tilt your jaw in a certain position at night to cure sleep apnea, but it also separates the jaw enough that you won’t grind your teeth. This may be an option to investigate as well.
The team here at Shaia Dental Care in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, has the expertise to help you make a good decision on treating your bruxism. If you’re ready to stop your teeth grinding once and for all, give us a call today at 440-884-9898 to schedule an appointment.