gritting teeth

Mrs.Ashley

Michael informed me that I have started gritting my teeth while I sleep. I googled supposed causes of this and the only one that makes sense is (no surprise) stress. Websites suggest stretching or doing yoga before bed to bring down your stress level. I would rather try that rather than a mouthguard; my mom has grit her teeth at night all of her life and she has to wear a mouthguard every night. 

Does anyone else grit their teeth at night? Do you do anything effective to prevent it or lessen the harm on your teeth?

MrsJMB

I do when I'm super stressed.  I did it a lot when I was pregnant and before that when we were wedding planning.  I just try to relax and stretch, sometimes take a bath before bed.  I know it's no fun.

ballugurl

I notice it when I am stressed at work and try to chew gum instead. My husband does it per the dentist and he wears a mouthguard at night

SweetTea*83

DH grits his teeth.  It used to be all the time, now it's usually only the night before a big meeting or something.  Sex helps...best.wife.ever...but may not have as much of a relaxing affect on a woman.  Doesn't hurt to try it - back to the every day schedule!    

manda429

I've been dealing with gritting teeth for 15 years now!  It can cause huge problems with your teeth.  I've had more root canals than you can imagine, so I guess I would take it seriously.  Not to mention the headaches I had for years.

I've learned that you don't have a lot of control on how you physically manage stress, but certainly doing relaxation techniques and yoga will help minimize your need to express it! 

The bite plate for me is worth it to avoid wrecking my teeth any more.  I've been wearing for at least 10 years, maybe longer.  It's a little bit of a pain, but second nature. 

indybride4.8.06

I did this in college and didn't realize it until I started waking up with jaw pain.  I used a bite block.  It just fit over my top teeth and kept me from grinding my teeth.  It worked really well and I only used it for a little while since my stress started to go away toward the end of the school year.  I then would use it again when the next school year started.  I never really tried any stress reducing tips since my stress wasn't really going to go away until I finished final exams.

SusieDMB

I've just found myself doing this the past couple of days too!

lemen99

I'm sorry you are under a lot of stress Ashley!

I don't have experience in that really - I have clenched my jaw during the day during a lot of stress - and being sure to take deep breaths (yoga is great!) to relax my jaw and shoulders helps.  Obviously that won't help at night but maybe decreasing your general stress during the day might help at night.

My only other idea is to try reading before bed.  Maybe it will put you in a calm state.  The bath idea is nice too.

Mrs.Ashley

Thanks for the advice, girls! I'm going to really try to set aside time to relax before bed. It's been a bit difficult lately because we just moved on Saturday. There is so much to do around the house so I'm doing things until I'm just exhausted and I hit the pillow.

Tonight, we're going out for mexican with a good friend who's in from OOT -- hopefully a margarita will be a good remedy! 

SweetTea*83:

DH grits his teeth.  It used to be all the time, now it's usually only the night before a big meeting or something.  Sex helps...best.wife.ever...but may not have as much of a relaxing affect on a woman.  Doesn't hurt to try it - back to the every day schedule!    

...and yes, we need to do more of this! As you can imagine, after working on the house nonstop, it doesn't put me in the mood for sexy time. However, I need to make it happen because it always makes everything better