You are lying comfortably in bed, and you suddenly hear a grinding or squeaking sound. What is that, you ask yourself? The sound is clearly coming from your partner. Teeth grinding, also called bruxism, is the forceful movement of the teeth back and forth in such a way that sound is produced. However, grinding your teeth is a bad activity for your teeth, because this dental disease causes the teeth to wear away at an increased rate. Both the enamel and underlying dentin are gradually abraded by your own teeth. This is obviously a bad development for the teeth and is now classified as the third most common dental disease. What causes us to grind our teeth and what can you do about it?

Grinding your teeth

• Sleep and wake grinding
• Recognizing grinding
• Causes of teeth grinding
• Possible solutions

Sleep and wake grinding

When teeth grind, the jaw muscles ensure that the teeth are moved against each other with a lot of force. This causes a sound similar to that of cutting a piece of glass. Teeth grinding usually occurs during sleep, but some people also experience it during the day. The causes of teeth grinding can be very diverse and probably every person, from small to large, has suffered from it at some point in their lives (consciously or unconsciously). To get rid of teeth grinding, the underlying reason must be identified.

Recognizing grinding

The most important method of recognizing whether there is teeth grinding is when a second person points it out to you. This could be the partner or parent who happens to hear the teeth grinding. When you are sleeping you do not hear that you are grinding. In addition, the molars or teeth may be sensitive and the jaw muscles may feel painful or cramped due to too much lactic acid. The jaw muscles can also grow due to night-time movements. Another way to recognize whether you suffer from the condition is that the dentist notices a lot of wear and damage to the teeth. Consider extremely worn or broken enamel and the opening of old fillings.

Causes of teeth grinding

Teeth grinding is often associated with restless sleep. Restless sleep can be caused by, among other things:

• too much alcohol and nicotine in the body;
• excess weight, which increases internal stress in the body;
• increased stress during the day which leads to restlessness at night (psychological stress);
• medications such as Prozac and drugs;
• the occurrence of teeth grinding in the family due to heredity.

Possible solutions

Failure to treat the cause of the condition can lead to completely destroyed teeth. Of course, the problem must first be identified, after which work can be done:

Stress

Go relax! In consultation with your boss, take a five-minute break every now and then to let your body rest. So how do you de-stress at work? But also de-stress at home by not watching scary or disturbing films because they continue to haunt you in your sleep.

Home-situation

Are you having problems in your relationship? Then do something about it. Sit down with your partner and discuss the problem to find a solution. If you have a guy who hits you and disrespects you, you should consider ending the relationship.

Mental stress

You may be experiencing psychological problems yourself. It can be very useful to discuss this with the psychiatrist in order to limit the consequences.

Overweight

Lose weight by following an appropriate diet. An excess of fats and calories in the body causes the body to be internally stressed. The excess of substances must be removed from the body. Consider, for example, the halving diet.

Alcohol and nicotine

Limit alcohol intake to a minimum and stop smoking. The additional substances ensure that your body is restless and does not fall into deep sleep. It is better to have a glass of warm milk before going to sleep so that your body relaxes and calms down.In case of chronic teeth grinding, it may be a good idea to use a flexible mouthguard similar to a bit to continuously protect the teeth against further discomfort. You can often obtain this mouthguard from your dentist after consultation.

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