Stress is a major part of people’s lives today. Around 31% of adults believe that stress is one of the biggest health problems in the world today. With stress levels rising worldwide, different individuals react differently to stress. One of the many consequences of stress is bruxism: grinding teeth.
Grinding teeth can be very problematic to your oral health. In the following article, we will talk about bruxism and how it is linked with stress. We will also dive deeply into the disadvantages of grinding teeth and managing stress to stop it.
Bruxism
Clenching or grinding your teeth is called bruxism. It can happen due to any reason, mostly due to anxiety, stress or sleep problems.Studies have shown that most of the population affected by bruxism first started experiencing it during the time of COVID-19 due to increased levels of stress. It is prevalent in 5-8% of the population today. Bruxism happens subconsciously and can happen anytime, whether you’re asleep or awake.
Furthermore, bruxism is followed by various dental issues such as jaw pain, headaches and other damages to your oral cavity. Your dentist may recommend seeking help to avoid dental issues.
Types
The two types of bruxism are:
- Sleep bruxism
Sleep bruxism happens during the time you are sleeping and can have detrimental effects on your oral health. This is because when you are sleeping, you are completely unaware of what is happening and with what strength you are clenching your teeth. Make sure to contact your dentist if you are experiencing pain in your jaw due to this issue.
- Awake bruxism
Awake bruxism happens when you are fully awake. This can be fixed by increasing your awareness and managing stress. Being angry or anxious causes your subconscious mind to cope with it by clenching your jaw.
What causes bruxism? Understanding the link between bruxism and stress.
Stress is one of the major triggers of bruxism. Here are two explanations of how stress can cause bruxism:
Fight or flight response
When in stress, our bodies react differently to different changes. Our pupils dilate, breathing becomes faster, and causes our muscles to tense. The tension in our muscles starts building up, specially in our jaw muscles, causing them to clench hard in times of stress. This is a result of fight or flight response.
Lack of sleep
As per the studies, most cases of bruxism were reported in people with poor sleep. Poor sleep is caused by high levels of stress, thus causing muscle tension and hence teeth grinding at night.
Disadvantages of grinding teeth
Grinding your teeth comes with many dental and systematic issues. They are as follow:
- Tooth damage: Teeth grinding can exert great pressure on your teeth, hence causing them to get damaged. Make sure to consult your dentist regarding this issue and treat damaged teeth.
- Gums pull away from teeth: Clenching and grinding can cause your gums to pull away from your teeth. This is called gum recession.
- Jaw pain: Due to pressure from teeth grinding, your jaw may experience pain.
- Fatigue during sleep: Constantly clenching your jaw during sleep can cause fatigue and pain.
- Headaches: Bruxism is a major cause of headaches. This is because when your jaw muscles are under pressure, it automatically exerts pressure on your head, thus causing headaches.
- Sensitive teeth: Gum recession results in increased sensitivity. This issue must be taken to a dentist and be dealt with as soon as possible. Explain the issue to your dentist properly to get the appropriate treatment.
Managing stress
It is essential to manage stress in order to overcome bruxism. Managing stress is difficult but can be done with proper consistency. Here is how you can manage your stress levels:
- Exercise
Exercise helps combat stress in one of the best ways possible. Working out helps balance your hormones, thus helping you sleep better and reducing stress levels.
- Screen time
Screen time is one of the major causes of stress. During the time of COVID-19, the majority of the population was exposed to an increased screen time. This as a result, increased stress. Making sure that your screen time is limited helps relax your mind and keep you stress free.
- Counselling
Seeking professional help is always a great option. It can be daunting for those who have never experienced counseling before. But, professional help can really make a lot of difference. Try contacting a sleep dentist to help regulate your sleep.
How to overcome teeth grinding?
Breaking the cycle of teeth grinding is difficult but essential if you want to maintain your oral and mental health. Here is how you can overcome the issue of grinding teeth:
- Mouth guard
A dentist will recommend you a mouthguard to avoid putting pressure on your jaw. A mouthguard can be worn at night while you are sleeping because that’s when you are most likely to grind your teeth.
- Quit smoking
If you are a frequent smoker, quitting it can help fix bruxism.
- Regular dental visits
It is important to pay visits to your dentists on a regular basis. This will help monitor teeth grinding effects on your oral health and allow you to get proper treatment.
- Muscle relaxants
Your dentist may recommend you to take muscle relaxants in order to relax your jaw muscles and stop your teeth from grinding against each other.
- Therapy
As discussed above, stress is a major cause of bruxism. To deal with stress, try considering going for therapy sessions.
Conclusion
In order to conclude, it can thus be stated that bruxism and stress are directly related to each other. High levels of stress can cause your muscles to stress and hence clench, leading to bruxism. It is thus essential to manage stress if you want to overcome bruxism. The abovementioned tips can help you manage stress as well as bruxism.
If you are seeking some professional help for bruxism, book your appointment at Lycian Dental Clinic, where our professionals offer expert help for treating the issue of grinding teeth.
