What are the causes of teeth grinding?
The cause of teeth grinding in the sleep of adults or even when they wake up can include the following:
- It can be due to stress, anger, excitement or anxiety.
- One of the side effects of taking some antidepressants is teeth grinding.
- Sometimes we grind our teeth in our sleep due to breathing problems.
- It may be a complication of Parkinson's disease.
- It can be a symptom of neurological and mental diseases or diseases related to the muscles of the jaw and face.
- Misalignment and misalignment of teeth .
- Having an aggressive, competitive or hyperactive personality
- Gastric reflux
Types of bruxism or teeth grinding
Teeth grinding is known as an involuntary disease in sleep. But sometimes there is a possibility of this complication occurring while awake and voluntarily. In general, bruxism can be considered to include two states:
-
Bruxism awake
Awake grinding occurs when the teeth grind and press together during the day.. The main cause of this condition is stress, mental pressure, anxiety, anger or intense focus on something.
In most cases, awake bruxism can be stopped with more attention and does not require serious treatment. The best way to get rid of this type of teeth grinding is stress management and awareness training to reduce the number of times it occurs..
-
bruxism dream
If teeth grinding occurs in sleep, it is more likely to cause damage to the jaw and teeth due to the lack of awareness of its occurrence.. One of the biggest problems with sleep bruxism is that you are not aware of the amount of pressure and wear on your teeth, and this can lead to severe damage such as headaches or broken teeth..
The method of diagnosis of grinding teeth
In order to confirm or reject the presence of bruxism, the dentist first examines the condition of the jaw muscles (TMJ)teeth (Jaw muscle stiffness, broken or full lips, how they fit together) and examines the extent of gum damage through physical examination.
Then, by asking questions about the health of your teeth, your sleep status, the amount of daily stress, the medications you take, and the symptoms of bruxism, he will announce his final diagnosis.. In some cases, for a more accurate diagnosis, radiological imaging of the jaw and teeth or polysomnography (sleep test) need.
The cause of teeth grinding in children can be these things:
- Stress
- tooth extraction
- to cry
What are the symptoms of teeth grinding?
- Feeling tired in the jaw muscles when waking up
- Severe and long-lasting pains in the jaw and face
- Feeling tired and sleepy during the day
- Abnormally broken part of the teeth or chipping of the edge of the teeth
- Headache and earache
- Loose teeth
- Swelling and bleeding gums
- Swelling of the lower jaw
- Teeth become sensitive to cold and heat
- A lot of teeth grinding noise during the night that people around notice it.
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What are the complications of bruxism?
Grinding teeth can have mild or dangerous side effects, which include::
- Loss of tooth enamel due to teeth rubbing against each other
- Damage to tooth enamel makes teeth sensitive to cold and heat.
- It can cause headache and earache.
- If a person has a tooth filling, the filling material may break by rubbing the teeth together..
What is the treatment for grinding teeth?
If teeth grinding is detected early, this problem can also be treated by finding the primary cause and fixing it. But if it is late, it will become a habit and now it should be treated with habit modification methods, but here we mention some treatment methods.:
- Using a mouthguard that is placed on the teeth and prevents them from rubbing against each other..
- Using a device called biofeedback that is placed on the head and produces a sound by sensing the contraction of the facial muscles during teeth grinding..
There are other ways to treat it, which we treat if the cause is diagnosed.
- If the cause of the problems is related to the teeth themselves, you can get rid of the grinding teeth by taking measures such as filling the teeth and fixing the teeth problems..
- Using dental veneers to treat severe teeth grinding that causes teeth wear.
- If it occurs due to stress, the dentist treats grinding teeth by giving advice and calming the patient and encouraging him to keep calm..
- If it is a side effect of taking some medications, you can treat grinding teeth by changing the medication or using strategies to prevent it..
What are the ways to prevent bruxism?
- Controlling stress and overcoming your anger, in this case, visiting a counselor can help you a lot.
- Avoid or limit the consumption of caffeinated substances such as coffee, cocoa and soft drinks.
- Consumption of alcoholic beverages causes more teeth grinding.
- Constantly chewing gum or even non-food items.
- Avoid grinding your teeth together. To prevent this, you can keep your tongue between your teeth. In this way, the jaw muscles rest and do not move.
- A warm cloth on the cheeks at night (hot compress) Place it so that the jaw muscles are relaxed.
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