Clenching and Grinding

Some people say they cannot be bruxing or clenching because they go to sleep with their teeth apart and mouth open.

This is all very well but once you fall asleep, your higher brain shuts down and your autonomic nervous system takes over and your muscle activity is out of your control.

Similarly, people say they can’t be bruxing and clenching because their partner says they snore. Every time you swallow, your jaw muscles contract and your teeth go together for anything from a second to a couple of minutes before relaxing again.

During this time, breathing stops! Usually a snorer cycles between snoring, swallowing, clenching, stopping breathing, opening mouth, gasping and starting snoring again.

People do this because they cannot breathe through their nose adequately so that enough oxygen gets in the blood and into the brain. The brain then switches to mouth breathing. Mouth breathing arouses the autonomic nervous system out of autopilot into primed mode.

Some people brux and dont wear away their teeth much. Other people dont put much force on their teeth but their teeth wear quickly. This is partly due to differences in enamel hardness but also, this is because of saliva quality.If the saliva is a bit acidic, the teeth will wear more easily.

Whilst bruxing can produce jawjoint dysfunction and wear teeth away, excessive vertical clenching forces produce headaches, migraines, sinus pain, chronic tooth sensitivity, jaw ache, stiff neck, auditory symptoms, vertigo and even back ache.

Eventually teeth wear away or break.