Treatment Option for Teeth Grinding
Manage Your Stress
Since stress is a large factor in bruxism, take proactive measures to deal with your daily stressors. Whether it be exercise, 20 minutes of meditation, a weekly massage, journaling, changing your perception of stressful situations, or therapy, commit to incorporating one stress-reducing strategy every day.Dental approaches
If you or your child has bruxism, your doctor may suggest a mouth guard or protective dental appliance (splint) to prevent damage to the teeth.Wear a nightguard
The most common treatment suggested by dentists to cure bruxism is a custom-made specially-fitted dental night guard that is worn during sleep to prevent unconscious teeth grinding.A dental night guard is a thin horseshoe-shaped appliance made of hard plastic. The night guard fits between your upper and lower teeth, to prevent further dental damage to teeth by absorbing the force of clenching or grinding. Besides of preventing the two sets of teeth from grinding against each other, night guards also aid in changing the patient's behavior.
Your dentist can make you a custom-fitted night guard by taking accurate impressions of your upper and lower teeth, that are used to create a model of how your teeth fit together. Based on this model the dentist forms a customized heat-processed hard plastic nightguard. Over-the-counter mouth guards are also available and they're less expensive than custom guards, but may not be as comfortable and effective as one custom-made for you. It is very important for the success of the bruxism treatment that the night guard fits perfectly.
Another type of appliance used for the treatment of bruxism is the NTI Tension Suppression System. The NTI device is much easier to wear as it gets attached to the front two teeth only, keeping the back teeth (molars) completely separated. The purpose of a night guard or NTI is to stop this destruction of tooth structure right away and reduce jaw clenching and teeth grinding.
Normally you need to wear the night guard each night for it to work properly. It takes a few nights to get adjusted to, but most people who use night guards for teeth grinding quickly get used to them.
Relax Your Jaw Muscles
Even if you feel like you are getting a good handle on your stress, your subconscious may still incite your jaw to clench. The website Bruxism101.com recommends relaxing your jaw throughout the day and make facial relaxation a habit. Set your watch or cell phone to beep every hour to check your facial tension and practice loosening your jaw.Hypnosis
Hypnosis has also been used with success in some individuals to cure bruxism.Change Your Sleep Position
A supine position with good neck support allows the lower jaw to rest and relax. Changing your sleep position combined with the use of a night guard for teeth grinding can significantly help in the treatment of bruxism.Medication
In general, medications aren't very effective for treatment of bruxism. In some cases, your doctor may suggest taking a muscle relaxant before bedtime. If you develop bruxism as a side effect of an antidepressant medication, your doctor may change your medication or prescribe another medication to counteract your bruxism. OnabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injections may help some people with severe bruxism who haven't responded to other treatments. However, more research is needed, as this treatment hasn't been thoroughly studied.Unwind Before You Go to Bed
Give yourself a half hour or even an hour before falling asleep to put work or some other chronic stressor out of your mind. Take a long bath or do light yoga to loosen your mind and your body. And if the news tends to rile you or causes anxiety, don't watch TV before hitting the hay.Orthodontic Treatment
It may help if your bruxism seems to be associated with dental problems. In severe cases — when tooth wear has led to sensitivity or the inability to chew properly — your dentist may need to use overlays or crowns to entirely reshape the chewing surfaces of your teeth. Reconstructive treatment can be quite extensive and although it will correct the wear, it may not stop the bruxism.Splints
Splints are usually constructed of hard acrylic and fit over your upper or lower teeth. Some dentists may make them right in the office, while others may send them to a laboratory to be made.Behaviour Therapy
Biofeedback is one of the modern methods for bruxism treatment. Behavior therapy is a form of complementary and alternative medicine that uses a variety of monitoring procedures and equipment to teach the bruxism patient to control involuntary body responses.During a biofeedback session, electrical sensors are applied that measure the amount of muscle activity of the mouth and jaw, and then feed the information back to the patient via auditory and visual cues, such as a beeping sound or a flashing light. This feedback, is indicating to the patient when abnormal muscle activity is taking place so that the behavior can be changed and finally stop the teeth grinding habit.
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