grinding

Have you experienced a tight jaw, impressions on your tongue or a tooth that seemed loose, chipped, or fractured? What about sore facial muscles, increased sensitivity in your teeth, or a partner that complains about clicking noises you make with your mouth? If you said yes to all or most of these, you could be a teeth grinder. Read on to find out why teeth grinding is harmful, what causes it, and what you can do to stop grinding and clenching your teeth during the day.

Why You Should Be Concerned About Teeth Grinding

Teeth grinding or clenching, known medically as bruxism, is common in both adults and children. It could result in further teeth sensitivity as grinding wears down your enamel. If bruxism persists, you could end up damaging your teeth and it may require treatments such as root canals, bridges, or even dentures and implants.

Bruxism could also affect your jaw—teeth grinding might cause TMJ or even disfigure your face. You could experience headaches and earaches that you may not immediately associate with bruxism.

Grinding and Clenching—Why Does It Happen During the Day?

While doctors are not entirely sure what causes teeth grinding, common causes include sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or abnormalities in your teeth alignment (malocclusion). Many cases of teeth grinding and clenching happen at night, and can only be detected if your loved one notices it enough to wake him up.

But teeth grinding also happens during the day (daytime bruxism) and it is likely caused by anxiety and emotional stress. If you have daytime bruxism, you don’t necessarily experience nocturnal bruxism as well. Fortunately, there are means to stop bruxism before it wreaks havoc on your teeth.

How to Break the Habit

Try the following tips to help you eliminate teeth grinding during the day:

• Reduce stress and tension by doing the following:
• Keep a journal or writing pad handy. When you start to feel stressed out, take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts and feelings. This lets you release emotionally, and you can process it later to identify your stressors.
• Seek counsel. A trained professional will use different techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy to deal with your stressors and help you cope with emotional situations.
• Increased physical activity is proven to lower stress. Remember to stay hydrated.
• Avoid certain food and beverages that may trigger stress, such as caffeinated drinks (coffee, soda, etc.) and alcohol
• Under more extreme cases, use muscle relaxants as prescribed by your doctor.

• Avoid chewing gum, the tip of your pen, your pencil eraser, or other objects. Chewing will only encourage teeth grinding during the day.
• Use a mouth guard. This is especially important if you grind your teeth at night and you’re not aware. But mouth guards can also be helpful during the day if you’re still training your jaw. Daytime mouth guards are not as noticeable as night guards, so it appears discreet and allows you to talk comfortably.
• Talk to people you regularly interact with. During the night, ask your bed mate to gently wake you up so you can relax and stop grinding your teeth. During the day, ask people to help remind you not to grind or clench. Self-awareness is important to stop daytime bruxism but employ the help of others if you can’t catch yourself doing it.
• If you notice that you’re clenching, keep lips together, keep teeth slightly apart, and place the tip of your tongue between your teeth. This technique helps your jaw relax and eventually train you not to grind your teeth.

We hope these tips help you keep your daytime grinding in check! If you need any other tips or are interested in getting your teeth looked at, don’t hesitate to visit Chicago’s number one dentistry. Contact us today!

When you’re fast asleep, the last thing you’re thinking about is your teeth. (Unless you’re having a dental dream, of course.) So it’s important to make sure that your teeth are well protected before you hit the hay for a long night of sleep. We’ve put together a short checklist that you can use every night before you go to bed to keep your teeth protected all night long.

• Brush your teeth before bed

Not brushing before bed is one of the worst decisions you can make for your teeth. If you leave food and plaque inside your mouth, bacteria can eat away at your teeth all night long. This can quickly lead to cavities, tooth decay and gum disease. That’s why it’s important to brush away any plaque that has built up over the course of the day with toothpaste and a toothbrush.

• Don’t forget to floss

Brushing is just your first line of defense against plaque. Unfortunately, most brush bristles can’t effectively clear out food and plaque stuck between your teeth. That’s where floss comes in. Flossing can get rid of hard-to-reach plaque that might otherwise cause tooth decay between your teeth and irritate your gums during the night.

• Finish up your cleaning with a little mouthwash

Your nighttime cleaning routine shouldn’t end with flossing! While many people may only think of mouthwash as a way to freshen their breath, it can do a lot more than that. Swishing mouthwash correctly can destroy any lingering bacteria and wash away leftover loose plaque in your mouth. When you use mouthwash, make sure to swish it back and forth, reaching every area from the top of your gums to your lower front teeth. Gargle a few seconds before you spit, making sure not to swallow.

• Don’t eat after you clean your teeth

The last thing you want to do after cleaning your teeth is get them dirty again with food. Try to finish eating before you clean your teeth at night. If you eat after brushing and flossing, the acid from the bacteria in your food will attack your teeth and gums while you’re asleep. Food isn’t the only culprit here. Any drinks that provide a food source for bacteria (like sugar) can also lead to bacteria growth overnight. You want to make sure to get rid of these bacteria before you call it a night.

• Put on your mouthguard - or consider one if you grind your teeth

Grinding your teeth can wear them down, leading to serious problems such as broken teeth, migraines and TMJ disease. If you have a nightguard from your dentist, it’s important that you wear it every night so that you avoid damaging your teeth by grinding.
If you don’t currently have a nightguard, it’s important to know the symptoms of teeth grinding and clenching in case you need one. Since you’re not conscious while you sleep, it can be difficult to know if you grind your teeth during the night. The following are symptoms of grinding and clenching that can help you identify if you have a problem:

• Chipped or broken teeth
• Teeth that are worn down with flattened surfaces
• Pain in your jaw
• Damaged tissue in your mouth
• Headaches or pain in your face
• Earaches from your jaw
• Sensitive teeth
• Enamel loss
• Irregular tongue edges

If you live with your partner, you can also ask them if they have ever noticed that you grind your teeth during the night. A dentist should also be able to recognize if you grind or clench your teeth.
We hope this little guide helps you to protect your teeth while you’re sleeping. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us on our Facebook page! Here at Water Tower Dental Care, we’re devoting to providing you with the tools and information you need to keep your smile healthy and happy. And for more information about selecting a pillow, visit Sleep Healthier.

Constant tooth pain is irritating, and can be downright debilitating if it hurts enough. If you experience regular bottom teeth pain, the first thing you should do is visit your dentist so that whatever is wrong doesn’t get worse. But it doesn’t hurt to learn what might be causing your bottom teeth to hurt in the meantime. Here are 5 reasons why your bottom teeth may hurt.

You’ve Got A Cavity

Cavity Tooth Pain Symptoms: Typically, pain caused by cavities can be felt sharply, consistently and suddenly in one or more teeth when you bite down. Cavities can also cause sensitivity.
If you haven’t been getting rid of all of the plaque on and around your bottom teeth by brushing, flossing and using mouthwash, you may have cavity. Cavities can also be caused by gum recession. Cavities are holes in your teeth created by acids, which love eating away at your enamel. Thankfully, fixing a cavity is quick and easy. All your dentist has to do is fill it in with dental filling material.

Your Root Might Be Infected

Infected Root Tooth Pain Symptoms: If you experience a severe and constant bottom toothache that causes throbbing or shooting pain, you may have an abscessed tooth, or root infection. Your teeth may also feel sensitive to extreme temperatures and when biting down, and your gums and glands may be swollen.
Severe tooth decay is usually the reason why an infection develops at the root of your tooth. When acids have been allowed to dissolve your enamel for a while, bacteria infects the center of your tooth (the pulp) between your gum and your tooth. If you don’t see a dentist to cure your infection, it can spread to the bones that support your bottom teeth. A root canal can be performed to rid your teeth of the infection.

You’re Clenching and/or Grinding Your Teeth

Clenching/Grinding Tooth Pain Symptoms: If you bottom teeth pain is less severe, and more of a constant throbbing or achy pain, you may grind or clench your teeth too much.
Many people clench their teeth when they are concentrating or working out at the gym. You may also grind your teeth while you’re sound asleep. When you grind or clench your teeth often, you wear down your enamel, which exposes the tubes that lead to your nerves. This can lead to sensitivity and tooth pain. If you think you clench or grind your teeth, speak to your dentist about wearing a mouth guard.

You Fractured Your Tooth

Fractured Tooth Pain Symptoms: If you experience irregular pain in a bottom tooth when you’re chewing or when your tooth is exposed to extreme temperatures, you may have a fractured tooth.
The center of your tooth contains soft tissue, called the pulp, where your nerves are located. Your enamel and dentin, which is the hard layer underneath your enamel, protect your nerves. The closer your pulp is to being exposed, the more you irritate your nerves, which can cause pain and sensitivity. There are several different dental procedures that treat cracked teeth, depending on the severity, from crowns to root canals.

You Have Other Serious Health Issues

Bottom teeth pain isn’t always a sign that you have dental issues. Teeth pain can also be caused by a variety of other serious health issues that you might not even think of. These include heart attacks, sinus infections, cluster headaches, viral infections, diabetes, nerve-related disease, alcohol or drug abuse, and more.
The only way to truly find out what is causing your bottom teeth to hurt is to speak to your dentist. They’ll be able to get to the root of your teeth pain and provide you with solutions to make you pain-free again.

Clenching and grinding your teeth is a harmful and unhealthy habit to form. Unfortunately most people don’t even know they do it. Most teeth grinders do so in their sleep so they have no idea it’s happening. The result of clenching and grinding can cause serious damage to your teeth along with other symptoms. We’d like to show you how to stop grinding your teeth.

The medical term for teeth grinding is Bruxism. While most doctors believed teeth grinding occurred from uneven teeth or jaw, the main reason someone may grind their teeth is stress. Though uneven bite can cause bruxism, stress is far more likely. When the body is over-stressed, it cause muscles to contract and tighten unconsciously. In the case of bruxism, when a person becomes stressed, they will begin to clench their teeth harder and harder until grinding occurs.
Bruxism is a tough condition to self-diagnose as you mostly do it while asleep. It’s like trying to find out if you snore. However, there are a few telling signs that can lead you to the assumption that you grind your teeth:
When you fist wake up, do you have a dull yet constant headache? Does your jaw hurt as well? Are your teeth more sensitive in the morning when you’re brushing? Do you notice your gums are more inflamed in the morning or do you have wounds and swelling on the inside of the cheeks? If you answered yes to most of these, you may grind your teeth.
The leading cause of bruxism is stress, so if you find yourself grinding your teeth, or have a loved one that has heard you grinding your teeth (it’s an awful sound), it may be stress coming from other areas of your life. The best way to keep from grinding your teeth then is to reduce stress in your life:

• Start by eliminating any source of stress that you can control. If you have a pesky roommate, or the sound of a TV blaring is making you crazy, get rid of those things.
• Get on a regular sleep schedule that has you going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday. Your body craves that routine. The more it knows when sleep time occurs, the more time it has to restore the energy you need for the day.
• Exercise regularly. It’s known that exercise can drastically reduce stress levels in a person’s body. Try working out at least every other day.
• Have fun with friends and family. Take time to spend with others that is meant to unwind and let loose.
• Eat Healthy. Make sure to eat well-balanced meals throughout the day and avoiding junk food. This will help you feel balanced and make your stomach less irritable at night.

There are plenty of other methods to help someone relieve stress. If you’re having a hard time finding what can help you, consult your physician who may have specific requests and suggestions.
Other methods that can help stop bruxism include:

• Reduce your caffeine intake. The stimulant is really good at making muscles clench and jitter. Avoid coffee, sodas, and energy drinks especially at night.
• Don’t chew on non-food stuff. Avoid biting down on a pen or the back of a pencil while at work. When your body uses biting as a stress reliever, it trains the jaw to clench down anytime you feel stress. If the habit forms and you don’t have a pen or your nails to bite on, that’s when teeth grinding starts.
• Stick your tongue between your teeth. That might sound odd, but you need to train your jaw not to clench down. This is a great way to do that as no one likes biting their own tongue.

Last, before you hit the hay, make sure to relax as much as possible. Try listening to soothing music before bed and having a warm cup of non-caffeinated tea. Also, use a warm washcloth and place it against your cheek just in front of the earlobe. The warm sensation helps relax the jaw and its muscles.
If these methods do not work, it’s time to see a dental professional. Though most bruxism comes from stress, there are cases that are caused by uneven and crowded teeth. At Water Tower Dental we have a solid team of dentists and hygienists to help fix these issues. Water Tower Dental uses a low-frequency Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation, or TENS unit, to relax the jaw muscle and find the ideal positioning. From that, we can locate the specific areas of the mouth that may cause bruxism, or if it is, in fact, stress induced. After which, we can make the proper adjustments using therapy options or by recommending a mouth guard along with further practices to reduce your teeth grinding. If you have any more questions or concerns with your own teeth, contact Water Tower Dental today, we’d be happy to help.