Ouch!
Teeth grinding can make our teeth hurt, wear, fracture, and even die for “no reason.” It can cause dental work to fail and can even lead to TMJ (jaw joint) pain, neck pain and headaches.
The outer layer of our teeth is covered with enamel. Enamel is as hard as steel but is often worn down from grinding. Think about how much force it would take to wear down steel! When you grind your teeth this is the amount of force exerted on your teeth, jaw, and muscles in your head and neck. No wonder we hurt!
In the middle of our teeth contains blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves. Blood vessels provide each tooth with oxygen and nutrients to keep it alive. The lymphatic system helps to protect the teeth from infection. The nerves of teeth give us the ability to feel hot, cold and pressure. When we grind our teeth, it does more than wear them down. The pressure can cut off a tooth’s circulation, just as your hand turns white when making a tight fist. Cutting off the blood supply and lymphatics starves your teeth of the oxygen, nutrients and the protection they need to be strong and healthy.
Teeth clenching and grinding disturbs our sleep and may be a sign that you are struggling to breathe. When your muscles are clenched hard enough to wear steel, the “fight or flight” part of our nervous system is activated. Imagine something frightening approaching you; your muscles tighten, your heart races and while your breathing quickens, it is shallow and through the mouth. How could anyone get good sleep in this state? We don’t. We toss and turn, grind our teeth, have nightmares and we feel tired during the day.
In this “fight or flight” state, blood moves away from the digestive organs and into your heart, brain and muscles to help you stay alive, fight, run –
and grind your teeth! Activating “fight or flight” night after night reduces the circulation of oxygen and nutrients to your teeth, which are a part of the digestive system. Teeth can take longer to recover after dental work, are more prone to cavities and unexplained aches, teeth fracture, dental work fail and more!
Often teeth grinding is treated with a night guard. A night guard is a piece of plastic that fits between your teeth and is worn while you sleep. While it may alleviate teeth-on-teeth wear, it only serves as a bandage and does not address the root cause of teeth grinding.
So how do we get out of the grind?
It may not be what you think! Learn how to get out of the grind by joining us for our free bi-monthly presentation: Grow, Breathe, Sleep, Thrive! Email us at GROW@ecologicdentistry.com for your FREE invitation or by calling us at 253-863-7005. We are located at 8412 Myers Rd. E. Ste 301, Bonney Lake, WA 98391.