A Practical Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness
I don’t like Dentists!
Due to the excess of Cola that I used to drink, I’ve made more than my fair share of visits to the Dentist’s surgery. My experiences haven’t always been great, so it’s not an experience that I exactly look forward to.
There was a time a couple of years ago when I was so anxious about the state of my teeth - and the dental work required - that I would lose sleep worrying about it, or spend the night grinding my teeth in trepidation. The irony wasn’t lost on me!
I was out with the children today and I noticed a couple of people that seemed to be grinding their teeth whilst in an apparently relaxed state. I’m told that an estimated one in 20 adults and three in 20 children unconsciously grind their teeth at night. Is this something that you’ve found yourself doing?
Interestingly, anxiety may not be the only cause for tooth-grinding. Though it seems accurate to see grinding as a subconscious release of tension from emotional stress, many dental authorities today believe that night grinding may be an unconscious effort to correct irregularities of the chewing surfaces of the teeth. They grind away to eliminate a spot that is too high or to find a comfortable place to fit the upper and lower teeth together.
Nocturnal grinding exerts thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch on the surface of the teeth. It can also have a detrimental effect on the supporting bone, gums and jaw joint. In my next post, I talk about a couple of ways to tackle grinding-teeth - and share the tactics that I personally have found most helpful.
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Think Happy! is a practical guide to the discovery of good mental health, happiness and wholeness.
From sharing handy memory aids, to pointing to ways to overcome anxiety, we aim is to record our own journey into mental wholeness - including both successes and failures.
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Burt
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Turns out that I regularly grind my teeth at night. At my last dental exam, my dentist pointed out that my “eye” teeth have been ground flat and even with the others over the years!
Jamie
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 am
My husband grinds his teeth every night and has since he was little, just like his mother. He’s sleeps with a mouth guard every night which keeps his teeth from being ground down or potentially cracking them (painful and expensive). It isn’t stress related for him-he does it every night regardless of how stressed or not stressed he was through the day. The dentist made a mold of his mouth and made a plastic piece that he sleeps with. You can see how badly he grinds by the wear on the guard. His mom uses the mouth guards that you buy and drop in hot water to get to form to your teeth as they are less expensive. When he doesn’t sleep with the guard in he will keep me awake, but when he wears it I don’t hear a thing. His mom swears its genetics.
graham
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Burt, did you have no idea until your dental exam?
Wow - what a discovery. It’s amazing how much pressure we can put on our teeth, isn’t it? Did you ever wake up with headaches?
graham
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your comment.
It’s interesting to hear about your genetics theory. In my case, I’d say that it’s certainly related to stress - conscious or otherwise. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone.
My concern with a mouth-guard is that it would keep me awake. I can’t imagine not being aware of it. Maybe the kind that your Mum wears would feel more subtle?
Burt
February 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Graham: Yeah, I had no idea. Headaches? All the time! Looking into the idea of some kind of mouth guard now.