Teeth Grinding at night

BossArky

Hello,
My girlfriend often grinds here teeth at night. Its fairly loud and must be in some way harmful to her teeth, its sounds like she's chewing stones! I was trying to find some info about it yesterday on the net..its called bruxism.
Anyone else know anything about it and how to stop it?

Hip

I think the solution is to get a plastic gumshield of some sort.

patch

yep. A gumshield, I know a guy who grinds his teeth at night. His gf actually gave him a black eye one night because of it

RicardoSmith

It will damage the teeth after a while. Its usually cause be stress and anxiety. Gum shields generally prevent damage in the short temp. Notice Joey in Friends has one doesn't he. Though I don't think its for grinding.

b3t4

My sister grinds her teeth at night.
Her teeth have worn away quite noticeable.

Dentist had a gumshield made specific for her which she has to wear every night.

Im not aware of what causes it.

Rgds,
A.

ballooba

My dentist told me once that i do that.

Never mentioned it again so I must have stopped.

BossArky

does that mean that my girlfriend would have to wear the gum shield forever?

b3t4

Get her to go to the dentist. Yup I know it costs a fortune but it'll cost her more in the long run if she doesn't get it sorted now.

For a cheaper option (and where my sister got hers). Find out if there is a dental training hospital near you. This is where students who are in college studying to become dentists work on patients. They are normally in their third year in college and quite capable (they are also supervised).

A.

D-!

i grind my teeth i used to do it when i was about 15 and then i stopped

then i started last year in about august and i only do it the odd night.

i was quoted over €600 off a couple of different dentists for it but i have not got around to it yet, and the dentist never said anything about me grinding my teeth so they must not be in that bad a state

Tusky

hmm your girlfriend doesnt do alot of " pills " does she ?

mooman_00

Originally posted by Tusky
hmm your girlfriend doesnt do alot of " pills " does she ?

lol what pop a few back and head off to sleep.........any woman who nightly ritual consists of that has more problems than worn teeth.......

a gum shield is the only solution, i used to grind in my sleep but stopped, teeth are fairly fukked now, well the bigger ones are anyway......

yes she'll have to wear it till she stops grinding which could possibly be forever if she lives that long......

BossArky

hmmm, ok, maybe if I stuff her mouth full of gummy bears as she dozes off she'll be ok.

Rella

I would suggest you get yourself a gumshield if she hears what you said about the gummy bears!
Seriouly though I know somebody who grinds her teeth and was advised to get a gum shield, so yep gum shield it is.

commuterised

i suffered from stress when in secondary school and college, exams etc and started to grind my teeth at night which in turn gave me headaches and earaches.
I got one of those gum shield things and wore it at nighttime when I was feeling stressed. Stops the grinding as your teeth are sorta locked into the top bit where they took the imprint.

It stopped after a few months. I don't have it any more, I think it got lost when moving house but I don't grind my teeth anymore.

It is most definitely stress related, stress has a lot to answer for in this world.

LegacyUser

stress has a lot to answer for in this world.

this world has a lot to answer for.

D nominater

"this world has a lot to answer for."

...people, including me, have a lot to answer for.
..........but there's a whole lot of good floating around as well, including in/with/from??? me.

It's stress related alright, it can totally feic your teeth.
Anyone have any idea how common it is?, my guess is not so common but not so totally uncommon either.

How is some people grind there teeth at not and not when they're awake, do they just stop themselves or something or is there more to it(no inuendo), like unresolved stressful emotions being run through/sorted out/surfacing or something..


quote:"run through/sorted out/surfacing", i think i'm coming down with with a bit of grammatical indecisiveness syndrom or something, hopefully it's not catching, imagine someone talking like that spurting out three words at once, imagine the insults........(you ****/*t**nn*/*** you *******......all censored thank goodness, some insults should not come to be..)

The Sweeper

Yeah it's stress related. I champ my teeth, chew the inside of my cheeks and crack my jaw in my sleep if I'm stressed out.

A couple of years ago, my ex boyf started to whinge at me about the noise my jaw made when it cracked - at the time it was quite noticeable both asleep and if I was chewing something while awake. After being b1tched at for some time, I went to the dental hospital to see what they could do about it. Some suggestions suggested slitting the area where my jaw hinge is and rinsing the sockets but I flatly refused that. To stop the night champing and grinding they offered to fit me with what they called a 'night brace' which is basically a gumshield you wear in your sleep. I thought long and hard about it and decided against it - at the time I was quoted about £120 (IR) and I knew it wouldn't be worth it because I just wouldn't wear the brace. There's no way I could sleep with a gumshield in!

One way I found to solve it is to get better quality sleep - are you guys bundling in a single bed, or an uncomfortable double bed? Deeper you sleep, generally the less tooth grinding.

I'm a recent convert to Nytol as well to help get a good night's sleep and it does make a difference.

Finally, and I'm not trying to be horrible here, but how much does this tooth grinding bother your girlfriend? If she goes to see the dentist and the diagnosis is that it isn't damaging her teeth that much, earplugs are a damn sight cheaper than a night brace...

Mac daddy

I do it all the time, in my sleep i often get woken up recieving boxes to my face from the girf, stress related,namely work, and i have to wear a gum shield at night because my front teeth getting worn down to nothing, i went to the dentist he made one that fits my teeth exactly, still doing it though at night time, wake up in the morning, with white **** stuck to my lips, it is bits of my teeth. pain in the arse having this. it not as bad as it used to be :ninja:

RicardoSmith

Seems abit odd the reaction some of you have with your partners with this....

Personally if I can't sleep I get up and do something physically that really exhausts me, speed walking or jogging etc. Have a bath. Then have a glass of vino (a really heavy red works wonders) or a beer. No grinding after that. Worst thing is to be up on the PC or working late at home before going to bed. Keeps your mind active which is exactly what you don't want.

hells angels

Go to the dentist..and its not aways stress it could be her jaw that is slightly out of line.. thats what was wrong with my sisters but she got a gum sheild and was giving jaw excersies to do at night... not sayin thats what is wrong with your womans but if it is get it sorted out asap or she could be i serious trouble in the not so distant future....

rubadub

dentist will make one for a high price. it is like a rugby gumsheild that doesnt guard the gums. you could get a rugby one and cut it down to size and use it. you may spit it out the first few nights but after that you will find it difficult to sleep without. my mate has one, dentist asked if they use drugs, probably to see if it was just from taking e

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by ballooba
My dentist told me once that i do that.

Never mentioned it again so I must have stopped.

you sleep with your dentist?

nopreviousowner

Does she know she's doing it?

BossArky

Yes, she knows shes doing it cos I tell her or else wake her up to stop her. Its dosen't particularly bother me too much or stop me from getting a good nights sleep, but I fear for her teeth as the crunching and cracking that she produces at night time is often quiet extra-ordinary. Sometimes she wakes up with blood between her teeth..not much...but I was thinking that this is from the grinding.

Hmmm... hopefully the problem is down to our single little bed as someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

On a slightly different note, I had braces from a few years and now have been wearing a retainer for about a year. Its removeable and will be off soon for good. Someone was saying that they couldn't sleep with something in their mouth......in my opinion it makes absolutely no difference at all and feels quite normal.

Benbaz

Tusky

hmm your girlfriend doesnt do alot of " pills " does she ? [/QUOTE

Originally posted by mooman_00
lol what pop a few back and head off to sleep.........any woman who nightly ritual consists of that has more problems than worn teeth.......

]

Moonman misses point methinks!?!?!
Check out the Dance board to find out what Tusky mean't!!!!!

Tails

Yeah, my brother has that problem. He got a gum shield/guard kind of thing, its not like a sports gum shield. get i done quickly, my brothers top set of teeth are as flat as his bottom set!

DapperGent

I have this quite badly also I can't really see any damage yet so I'm holding off on the dental treatment.

Just to say that everybody grindsa their teeth it's the severity of it thats at question. Also that it's not neccesarily stress in fact nobody definitively knows what causes it. There just as much evidence to link poor lifestyle and particularily smoking to bruxism.

The thory goes that it's a bodily reaction to make you wake up a bit because your breathing is so ****ed.

Anyways just saying that treat any diagnosis of cause with healthy skepticism.

Good link:

http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/bruxnet/advice.htm

Evil Phil

Possible causes of teeth grinding at night are Stress, as mentioned here, diet lacking in certain minerals, drugs (again mentioned here) or, em, worms.

josh40

My nine year old daughter does it so much ,she's had three root canals on baby teeth. Apparently. it's very common in young kids and is not believed to be stress related. It usually stops when they get their permanent teeth, I certainly hope so , I could buy a new car with the money I've spent on her teeth already.

If it continues, when she gets her "big" teeth, she'll just have to get a mouth guard. It is supposed to be fairly common in adults too, and apart from ruining your love live, it destroys the teeth and the pocket!

Gordon

Root canals on baby teeth? Is that not like fixing a tile a week before you get your roof redone?

josh40

She's nine the permanent teeth are right below, bad first ones can destroy the second ones before they even come through!

Gordon

I see. Can the dentist not just extract the bad ones if the new ones will take their place in a couple of years? Just curious.

b3t4

Gordon,

If the dentist removed the "baby/milk" teeth before the "big" teeth were ready to come down the gums may seal over. Therefore the gums would have to be slit open in a few years time to let the "big" teeth through. Happened to someone I know.

Rgds,
A.

TacT

I grind my teeth while sleeping sometimes, stress related or whatever causes it I don't know (deffo not e's anyway
gumshield is the only answer, or as has been mentioned if you wanna throw the money away the dentist will make you one. Although I'm sure lifestyle's rugby gumshield will do just fine, does for me..

josh40

Another problem with removing baby teeth too early ,is that the space may closeand then you get to pay for braces later!