Bruxism or Clenching of Teeth

Cosmetic Dentistry industry statistics show that about one out of four dental patients have one of the oldest maladies known to man - bruxism or clenching.

It is a common problem for a quarter of the patients who have dental problems and is known to exist forever in human history.

Bruxism is the condition where the teeth grind together while biting and this eventually results in damage to enamel. Eventually this can cause pain in the patient's face.

Clenching is a form of bruxism where the contact between the teeth is without the knowledge of the patient. These patients can exert pressure in the range of up to 14 times than that of chewing. As most of these patients are doing this involuntarily and are unaware of this, the condition is never noticed and treated before it is too late. Eventually, the patient may need to extract his teeth or undergo large-scale treatment in order to fix the condition. This condition is much worse than caries. These people are called bruxers and are known to unknowingly bite too hard on their teeth at odd times like during their sleep. Some of these men bite on to their fingernails, other objects like pen, inside of their cheeks etc. As many of these people are not at all aware of such a dental condition, they get to the dentist only when it is already too late. Some of them wrongly believe that their upper teeth and lower teeth should be touching each other at all times. Any dentist can take care of bruxism easily.

Effects

Dental Effects:

Even healthy teeth may become sensitive after continuously forceful biting for a long time. This can cause the teeth to get worn out fast. In addition to this, jaw pain, stiff muscles, headaches etc are also possible. Biting hard when not eating can eventually cause problems in the jaw's alignment also. In extreme cases, stress fractures may arise too.

Muscle Effects:

The added stress on the muscles during night can cause:

Tension type headaches
Migraine headaches
Sinus headaches
Allergy headaches
Tinnitus
Premenstrual headaches
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) pain
Tenderness in the pericranial region

Symptoms

People with bruxism are known for their flat teeth tips. The enamel on the teeth tips can be completely worn out so as to reveal the dentine inside. This would make the teeth extremely sensitive. Bruxers are known to suffer from pain in their jaw joint (temporomandibular joint or TMJ) and are known for the clicking and popping voice associated with this joint. Bruxism can result in severe problems for women, as their tissues are more susceptible to damage due to the extreme pressure exerted on their teeth. Another symptom of bruxism is tongue indentation.

Reasons

Bruxism can be seen in people of some particular personality types and also as a result of stress. The later type has been in existence for ages. Feelings like desperation, pain and anger are known to induce bruxism. The chances of this condition arising are much higher for people with a very aggressive and fast life style. Any added stress on your facial muscles can be a cause of severe headache as your tolerance threshold is quickly surpassed.

Even though the reasons for headache can vary from person to person, the reasons listed below can pull the trigger:

Eyestrain
Stress during daytime
Exertion
Stoppage of caffeine use
Sinus infection
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Eyeglasses or headbands
Weather changes
Hormonal changes

Therapy

All dentists routinely check for symptoms of bruxism. Once the condition gets noticed, the dentist will keep track of the condition for a few more dental visits until he is sure of the condition. Once certain, your dentist will recommend you to undergo therapy.

During the sessions of therapy, the bruxer is taught ways to relax his teeth, tongue, lips etc in the right way. For many people, just understanding their problem and learning the remedial position to keep their teeth apart with tongue placed upwards will take care of the problem. Patients may be required to place a plastic night guard or occlusal splint on their teeth so as to reduce the pressure on their teeth. This device will act as a barrier and will reduce the unusual biting/grinding exerted otherwise. This way, the damage will be on the plastic device. But this is not perfect and the customized night guard will only prevent the teeth from moving sideways. The force exerted upwards or downwards is not totally absorbed. There is a new technique and equipment known as the NTI-tss is more useful (an alteration of already existing ideas) - it controls clenching force by making use of the nociceptive trigeminal inhibition reflex by thwarting canine and posterior tooth occluding.

Once the condition is confirmed, there should not be any delay in starting therapy. This way the condition can be brought under control while it is still at a preliminary stage and thus avoid sophisticated and more expensive procedures once the condition becomes much more severe. Thus the patient can be trained to change his habits and is saved from any future occurrence of headache.

If the patient uses the NTI-tss system, it makes use of the naturally protective nociceptive trigeminal inhibition reflex, which helps to temporalis muscles to relax. This reflex feels like the effect you get when biting some thing hard, when actually you were expecting some thing soft.

Simple Demonstration of the efficacy of the NTI-tss device.

1. First bite on to your fingernail at the middle section using your central incisors and stop when it gets a little uncomfortable.
2. Next time, try your canine tooth and try to exert the same force as above, on the same spot of your fingernail.

Is there any difference? Canine tooth causes more pain than incisors. Why is it so?

Incisor teeth are designed to check the hardness and also to incise food you are consuming. You can control them if you bite in to any thing too hard to chew.

The job of canine teeth is to hold on to whatever food you are inserting in to your mouth. They are designed so as to hold the food hard and are less under your control. You brain is going to allow the canine teeth to clench the food really hard.

Dentistry's effort to control hyperactive jaw muscles (the worst of them all is jaw clenching) is to provide changes for the biting surface of your teeth!

Dentistry's attempt at dealing with para functional jaw muscle activity (the most destructive of which is jaw clenching) has been to provide alterations of the biting surfaces of the teeth.