Different Ways to Treat Bruxism
Do you have Bruxism?
Grinding or clenching your teeth, formally known as Bruxism usually occurs at night while you sleep, but can also happen during the day.
This condition varies from mild to severe cases. The mildest case is one where the patient only has a minimal amount of damage to their teeth. The most severe cases can come with such side effects as TMJ or arthritis of the temporomandibular joint. Our jaws chew with the brute force of 175 pounds per square inch, when you grind your teeth that force is two fold.
Looking for relief from bruxism?
1. For five hundred dollars and up, you can get a splint or mouth guard, the most basic form of treatment.
Advantages
– This form of treatment will prevent additional damage to your teeth as well as keep your teeth in line, preventing any movement caused by force.
Disadvantages
– This form of treatment is often found to be uncomfortable. Some subjects find the mouth guard difficult to sleep in and others even gag on the device.
– This treatment does not address the actual problem, you are still grinding, only now your doing it with a mouth guard in place.
– Insurance usually wont cover this, and if you have moderate to heavy bruxism, you may find yourself replacing the splint or mouth guard often, having bitten through it.
– Prolonged use of a mouth guard or splint can cause an inability to close the jaw. Dentists call this prognosis an “open bite”.
2. Some doctors or dentists will prescribe pain medication
Advantages
– This method will reduce inflammation in the jaw, providing temporary relief of bruxism.
Disadvantages
– Again, this is not a cure – your bruxism will still occur.
– Taking pain killers for long periods of time are not only highly addictive with severe withdrawal symptoms, they do irreversible damage to your liver and can interact negatively with other medications.
3. Making major life changes such as a serious change in diet to provide you with real bruxism relief and jaw exercises.
Advantages
– This form of treatment is all natural and can provide an actual cure for your bruxism.
Disadvantages
– The task of finding the methods that work for you can be difficult if you’re not sure where to start.
Grinding Teeth in Sleep – Learn how to stop grinding teeth at night to stop teeth grinding at night.
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