Oral Health Problems Caused By Bruxism

Numerous problems may affect your oral health — your genetics, your oral health habits, and the food/drinks you consume may all cause issues and concerns. However, do you know that your mood may also affect your teeth’s health?If you usually feel worried or anxious, it can lead to a condition known as bruxism, which can seriously damage your jaw, gums, and teeth.

As a leading provider of teeth grinding guards online, we discuss what bruxism is and what oral health issues it can cause:

What is bruxism?

Anxiety causes bruxism, making you habitually clench your jaw and grind your teeth. Your partner may complain that you’re doing it at night, or you may also find yourself doing this during the day when you’re stressed. People who typically have bruxism don’t actually realize they’re doing it. You may have bruxism for a long time before the symptoms start appearing — it all depends on the strength of your jaw and mouth. However, if you grind your teeth every now and then, it’ll eventually cause problems, including issues like:

• Worn-down teeth cause tooth loss and sensitivity
• Damaged/broken fillings
• Broken, cracked, or chipped teeth
• Headaches
• Sleep disruptions
• Jaw stiffness and pain
• Earaches
• Facial pain

Oral health problems caused by bruxism

Temporomandibular joint issues

Both teeth grinding and clenching put excessive pressure on your jaw joints, also referred to as TMJ (temporomandibular joint). When you forcefully close your mouth to clench/grind your teeth, the joints remain in an unnatural position. People with bruxism usually have TMJ issues like painful or limited mouth opening/closing, jaw dislocation, clicking sounds, etc.

The underlying cause (for instance, sleep disorders, anxiety, etc.) should be identified and eliminated to treat bruxism. However, to prevent your teeth from further damage, get custom night guards from Clear Comfort Night Guards and wear them while you sleep. These guards are meant to be worn over the teeth and safeguard the tooth surface from additional loss.

Teeth clenching/grinding is a habit that’s usually undermined and disregarded. However, it must be dealt with immediately as it can lead to pain and affect your health negatively in the long run.

Periodontal issues

Teeth grinding doesn’t just place immense pressure on your face muscles but also on the structures that support your teeth —the jawbone and the periodontal ligament. Bruxism may cause inflammation of the periodontal ligament and the pulp, loosening the teeth while they’re in the sockets. If bruxism isn’t treated as soon as it’s detected, it can lead to tooth loss.

Difficulty in chewing

The role of our teeth in the digestive tract is crucial — they break down food into smaller pieces. Excessive teeth grinding flatten the teeth gradually, weakening their ability to break down the food for proper digestion. This can affect your physical health directly, causing indigestion and other digestion-related conditions.

Teeth cracks

Often, people with bruxism complain of hairline fractures on their teeth, which are a result of excessive pressure caused by teeth grinding. These cracks also indicate that your teeth aren’t as strong as they were and are vulnerable to larger cracks/fractures.

Sensitive teeth

Enamel is one of the most important layers of the tooth, which helps preserve and shield the tooth. It safeguards our teeth from sensitivity to hot/cold substances and performs a variety of important tasks for our oral health. However, when you grind your teeth, you damage or remove a very fine layer of enamel. If you don’t eliminate this habit, teeth grinding will destroy the entire enamel layer, exposing pulp layers and sensitive dentine to harsh environments. Your teeth are then vulnerable to sensitivity and disease that ultimately end in pain.

Headaches

Progressive headaches are one of the most common complaints observed in people who grind their teeth. When you grind your teeth, your jaw and face muscles remain under constant stress and pressure. Over time, these muscles become fatigued, leading to headaches.

Cosmetics

Excessive teeth grinding alter your teeth’s appearance and flattens them. Consequently, the teeth appear to have an irregular shape and seem shorter in length. This can directly influence your facial aesthetics.

Buy Clear Comfort Night Guards’ dentist-recommended mouthguard

Sleep a little better with our custom-made night guards.

At Clear Comfort Night Guards, we create custom-fitting night teeth guards for varying levels of bruxism at a fair price. Handcrafted by highly trained dental technicians, we offer custom night guards to suit the varying needs of our customers. Our night guards help with teeth grinding and related issues such as tooth damage, TMJ relief, and headaches.

We aim to make night teeth guards affordable and accessible to as many customers as possible.

Visit our website now for more information on our custom teeth nightguards!