Teeth Grinding

This is bad!

You may be grinding your teeth and you may also be unaware that you are doing this because it happens when you are sleeping.

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People who grind their teeth tend to start to have problems with pain or clicking in their jaw joint, headaches, they also tend to move around when they are sleeping and tend not to have had a restful sleep. That is because you have been moving around all night because of teeth grinding.

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Normally when you are awake and you clench your teeth together the maximum force that you could put on your teeth by tightening up your cheek muscles is about 30 lbs/sq inch. Try it! Your brain will not allow you to put more force than this on the teeth due to the fact that you may damage yourself in fact it is a reflex that we have built into ourselves.

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For all you teeth grinders out there here are some facts that when you are sleeping and you clench/grind your teeth you are clenching at forces that are in the region of 300-400 lb/sq inch. That is 10 times the previous figure and you do not stop that because that protective reflex that we were talking about is switched off when you are sleeping! If you grind your teeth especially when sleeping you will destroy them and you will also destroy any dental restoration that has been put on your teeth!

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Do not worry it is not all doom and gloom.

At Falkirk Dental Care we can help you.

The first thing is to make you aware that you are doing this.

How will we know? We know because there will be tell-tale signs in your mouth and by speaking to you.

We make an orthodontic splint to protect your teeth when you are sleeping. Teeth grinders who have been fitted with splints often sleep better and may stop grinding completely. If you continue grinding your teeth when you are sleeping you will wear out the splint and not your pearly whites

Finally we can also refer you for hypnotherapy treatment which has also been found to stop people from grinding.