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[Foxylady]

 If anyone else has experience of this, or suspect it may be a cause or factor in poor sleep could you share your stories.
I might aswell start in order. Around two appointments ago (last year) at dentist she asked me if I grind my teeth, I replied sternly 'NO', however I have been having increasing problems with neck, jaw, ear pain and almost sinusy type headache (bothersome but not painful enough to take analgesia). Also my sleep has never really got to a point I'm happy with. I have been attending an osteopath fortnightly with the neck, shoulder pains (initially thought it was from falling off my bike, months ago) she has told me it is stress related and given me specific exercises to help with the jaw, my movements are now limited on the (R) side, embarrasingly so - difficulty chewing & opening my mouth to put food in!! Anyway decided to 'Google' this week and I am now certain I have been grinding my teeth as the symptoms all fit, got dentist appointment Tues am to get fitted for a mouth guard (privately, ?10 dearer than on NHS and ASAP appointment, for NHS they have to get written approval).
Anway, sorry it's long winded but according to sleep websites aswell as dental ones, a large proportion of those who teeth grind at night do not know they are doing it until they suffer symptoms, mainly stress and sleep disorder related. x

[Dierdre]

Hi Foxylady, i lost a back tooth to this, cracked it right down to the root and had to have it pulled.  I didnt know i was grinding, was caused by stress from work.   Try doing things to relief the stress, easier said than done i know and wear the mouth guard.

[Countrygirl]

I also have damaged teeth and have to wear a nightguard, was told to learn to relax or if that fails do some jaw exercises before bed. I didn't even realise i was doing it, it was the dentist that discovered it as had a really tight jaw muscle too x
I paid privately too as was slightly cheaper than nhs and quicker x

[jillydoll]

My son has a guard too. He woke every morning with neck and head pain. He'd been grinding   his teeth down considerably according to the dentist, but of course he didn't know.
He wears the guard every night. Doesn't bother him. xx

[Wrensong]

Hi Foxy, another grinder/clencher here!  Dentist first alerted me many years ago to the fact I was grinding my teeth in my sleep when he detected characteristic signs of wear.  At that time I didn't know the damage could be more significant than a bit of light wear & tear & a mouthguard wasn't suggested until some years later.  I then worked my way through a series of mouthguards, both soft & hard types, but found I was waking in the night clenching on the guards, my jaw aching & indeed managed to damage several of them.  I also had problems getting my mouth open wide enough to eat, as the jaw muscles became too tight & for a while I was having daily headaches which a Neurologist thought could be a result of the bruxism. 

Like Dierdre I then broke a top rear tooth, right down the middle through the root & it had to be extracted & that was despite having worn a mouthguard every night for years.  The dentist showed me the extracted tooth in 2 pieces & said what I'd done was shocking & something she herself feared, also having bruxism.  I was referred to the dental hospital to see whether the gap could be bridged & the Cons there said the wear pattern was of clenching rather than grinding.  It felt kinda hopeless as I'd been wearing the guards religiously every night yet had still managed to break the tooth doing something over which I seemed to have no control.  Everyone advised getting stress under control, which is often easier said than done  , but at least something we can work on!

So, I'd echo what the other ladies have said about tackling stress - at the time I broke that tooth at the height of peri I was under a lot of stress.  I got interested in mindfulness & began daily meditation practice and made sure to exercise, but not to the point of exhaustion, as counter-intuitively, that seemed to make my already poor sleep even worse.

A new dentist then suggested that as I was still waking up clenching on the guard - in his words my subconscious obviously didn't like what it perceived as an obstruction in my mouth - I should stop wearing the guard every night & use it only at times of significant stress.  So that's what I've done the past few years.  I've broken no more teeth & though my jaw's still tight it's not painful & I can open my mouth normally now.  Generally I think advice is to wear the guard every night, so I'd do whatever your dentist recommends.  Give the guard a try & see how you get on with it, bearing in mind there are different types if you don't get on well with the first.  If you have a hard guard & find it uncomfortable at first do go back & get them to grind down any parts that rub.  But do also see whether there's any more you can do to reduce stress in your life.
Wx

[Foxylady]

Thank you ladies for your replies . Yes significantly stressed at work over the last 6 - 8 months, short staffed & more and more expected of us individually. I use an aromatherapy oil on my pulse points before bed, been doing the jaw & neck exercises from the osteopath. Go to pilates once a week and until the weather got horrendous would walk or cycle during the week/weekend to relax & unwind. Never tried mindfulness as generally I am able to fall asleep quickly but waken between 2-4hrs later & disturbed, unsettled after that. I had to have a tooth removed that had a crown in, possibly related to that now I am finding out more about it. I'm hopeful the mouthguard helps. Watch this space, will keep you all updated. x

[Wrensong]

Sounds as though you already have sensible measures in place for stress reduction Foxy, but if you have time for it & any interest in mindfulness meditation I'd recommend it.  There are many studies showing its beneficial effects on health, both physical & mental.  It seems to reset the body to a calmer default state, improving our ability to cope with stress, but it needs to be practised regularly which may not be possible if your life is already packed.  I sympathise with the early waking insomnia - that's something I still haven't managed to crack.  The mouthguards are said to be helpful in most cases so well worth giving one a try.  Think the dentist thought I must be pretty deranged to have managed to break a tooth despite wearing one, so I wouldn't expect you to do the same!
Wx

[Jari]

Hi all, a few years back ( whilst under a lot of stress ) I started to get ear pain. I kept putting it off but eventually went to doctor as one ear was in pain all the time. I was convinced I had some kind of ear infection.
He said he could see nothing wrong. I looked at him in disbelief.
He referred me to an ear nose and throat specialist.
He also took a look and said perfectly fine. Again I couldn't believe it. He wanted to rule out potential growth, so I had an mri of scull. All fine!

He then said, I must be clenching my jaw and it is all linked so causing ear pain. He prescribed a week of amitriptyline which made me sleep deeply and after a week it went.

I now have it again and I am sure it must be the same. I still have the box of amitriptyline so I may do a week again and see if it goes.

I have regular dental check ups and he has never said there are any problems so I think I am probably clenching jaw rather than grinding teeth.

X

[shrosphirelass]

I was revising for an exam over the holidays and writing lots of revision notes and got awful ear ache, I discovered it was down to me chewing my pen (which has alwys been a habit but obviously musn't do it so intensively normally) Hopefully, have weaned myself off this habit, but now wonder if my awful headaches could be related to grinding / jaw clentching? Some years ago the dentist said my teeth were ground down which would indicate some grinding. I did have a guard but couldn't sleep with it in.

[Wrensong]

If it was a hard guard Shropshirelass, might be worth having a soft one made to see if that helps your symptoms?  Would be good to protect your teeth from further grinding wear & tear too.

[Foxylady]

Thanks Ladies for your replies & advice.Good to know that the mouthguard can make a difference, I will try it and see how it goes. I did see somewhere that it can be a side effect of antidepressants use, however I have never seen it specifically mentioned elsewhere. Anyone found it linked to medications they were on, although I do think it is stress related in my case. x

[Countrygirl]

I can't take anti depressants, but have been on beta blockers since a teen for anxiety. So think mine is hormonal anxiety based as I catch myself gritting my teeth sometimes in the day when I'm having a bad patch and have noticed it increases on a 4-6 week cycle x

[Foxylady]

I take beta blockers too for migraine but been taking Fluoxetine for 9 months wondered if anyone else had experience of it being related? Honestly this time of life is such a nightmare of symptoms, trying to balance treatments etc, aaah!

[shrosphirelass]

I take beta blockers too for migraine but been taking Fluoxetine for 9 months wondered if anyone else had experience of it being related? Honestly this time of life is such a nightmare of symptoms, trying to balance treatments etc, aaah!

Sorry to hijack, but have you found the beta blaockers helpful for your migraines? Dr mentioned this as an option if my headaches don't improve and I'm desperate.

[Foxylady]

Hi shropshirelass, I have been on propanalol for about 10yrs now. Suffered from migraines since childhood, when I started contraceptive pill they seemed to settle so it was when I was due a period I would have them and although nauseous no vomiting like in childhood (females in our family seem to suffer from migraines). My migraines followed a fairly typical pattern until just over 10yrs ago a particularly stressful work environment and had 2 weeks of migraines (cluster headaches was told by GP, stress related) started on propanalol then. never had cluster headaches since and migraines have only fairly recently been an issue with peri & again few days before I bleed, apart from last 2 weeks but think that is the teeth grinding causing it (different to normal headaches/migraines). I have had no side effects that I am aware of to the propanalol and it seems to be offered regularly to migraine sufferers. I also take sumatriptan as soon as I feel a migraine kick in, if it's left too late not so effective. I feel for you as it is an awful thing to suffer. Let me know how you get on. x