How to Treat Bruxism (Grinding)?

Ever awoke to a painful headache? How about nauseating pain in the jaw? Have teeth suddenly taken a sensitive turn

towards cold foods, drinks and other substances? If the answer to one or more of these questions is yes, Bruxism, is the reason to blame. Millions of adults suffer from bruxism without even realizing it. The good news is there are holistic options available for treatment.

Basically, bruxism, is a common affliction that approximately 10% to 50% of the adult population suffers from. A significant number of this percentage goes untreated. Mainly due to bruxism being a subconscious aliment. Most sufferers do not realize teeth grinding is occurring unless a spouse or partner discloses the problem.

Bruxism is the basic grinding of the upper set of teeth against the lower set of teeth. In doing so, a person subconsciously clenches the jaw into a tight hold. This commonly occurs at night during sleep. It is here that the jaw holds the greatest potential biting force. It is up to six times stronger than during the day time hours. There is a possibility of bruxism occurring during the day time. However, this is few and far between.

One of the painful results of bruxism, is awaking to tender muscles in the facial area. This set of sore muscles is responsible for chewing food throughout the day. As a result of bruxism, this same set of muscles is overworked during the nighttime hours. Therefore, it never receives a break. While pain begins in this muscle area, often it formulates into headache pain, jaw pain or earaches during the day.

Another painful result of bruxism is the cosmetic damaged caused by nightly teeth grinding. Here, the teeth are grounded down over a period of time at uneven levels across the jaw line. This causes some teeth to be shorter than others. It also causes teeth to become uneven. The end result is an unbalance in the mouth that impairs regular eating and tooth brushing maintenance.

Existing dental work can also become impaired by bruxism. Over time, the grinding wears away tooth enamel. This leaves a tooth vulnerable to exposure inside the mouth. The common complaint of teeth sensitivity is a direct result of this. The amount of bite pressure placed on grinding teeth causes the teeth and existing fillings to crack. A dental problem known as Temporomandibular Joint Damage (TMJ) occurs when the joint between the upper and lower jaws is impaired. Constant grinding of the jaw bones wears this joint out over time resulting in TMJ.

Although most common in adults, children have been known to suffer from bruxism. With children, the grinding is normally used to alleviate other medical issues. This includes allergies, ear infections or the common cold. There is not a pressing concern that children exhibiting teeth grinding practices will grow into adult sufferers. Usually, after a period of time or passing of the ailment, the grinding in a child will cease and no longer be an issue.

Traditional dentistry treats bruxism, by the placement of a plastic mouth guard in a person’s mouth. This mouth guard is worn at night when the grinding occurs. It prevents the upper and lower jaws from clenching together. Further damage to the teeth is spared as the mouth guard bears the brunt of nightly grinding. Additionally, the dentist will demonstrate to a person the proper placement of the tongue and teeth before sleep. This will attempt to alleviate the bruxism.

Stress, poor nutritional diet, facial trauma, allergies and problems with the nervous system are all factors believed to precede the onset of bruxism. Adult sufferers have exhibited the greatest occurrences when stressed in areas of personal, professional and physical aspects of life. For this reason, holistic dentists will turn to areas of stress management as the first course of treatment. It becomes essential that bruxism sufferers find ways to alleviate stress. Exercise is the top recommendation made by holistic dentists. A daily exercise regiment is a key part of stress management.

A holistic dentist will also suggest deep breathing techniques, daily meditations and other body calming activities as treatments. One popular holistic treatment is the utilization of behavior modification. The concept here is that all emotional problems, such as stress, are learned behavior responses to the surrounding environment. Through behavior modification, these learned responses can be unlearned. There are several methods a dentist will utilize to achieve effective behavior modification.

The initial step is sending the person to see a therapist specializing in behavior modification. Together with the therapist, a person will become empowered with choices available for treatment. The person learns to become dependent on himself as a source of treatment rather than the therapist. One way to achieve this is through modeling. Here a person will learn a new approach to handling stress by observation of others. Another behavior modification method is skill training. In this, a person learns new social, parenting or other relevant life skills to handling problems as opposed to stress.

With a positive set of learned behaviors under the belt, a person suffering from bruxism is on the road for easier living. Once new stress management techniques take shape, bruxism may entirely disappear. At the very least, a person will have a new tool box in which to treat the problem and face each day a new. Without the existence of jaw and muscle pain, earaches and other ailments, a person will be given a new lease on life! This will be achieved without the use of a foreign object placed into the mouth or chemical intervention to stop bruxism.