Grind Your Teeth? Your Night Guard May Not Be the Right Fix

Everyday stressors like a report due at work, the refrigerator breaking and the dog throwing up can sometimes make you want to grit your teeth. But layer on top of that a pandemic, economic uncertainty and political upheaval, and you might start to give your jaw a serious workout — gritting and grinding with as much as 250 pounds of force.

Dentists have reported an increase in patients with tooth fractures since the start of the pandemic, which they attribute to bruxism, the technical term for gritting, grinding or clenching your teeth. Thought to be precipitated or exacerbated by stress and anxiety, bruxism is largely subconscious and often occurs during sleep. Most people don’t know they grind their teeth unless a dentist tells them so, based on tooth wear. Less obvious indicators include itchy or plugged ears, neck pain and even premature aging of the face.

Expensive acrylic or rubber mouth or bite guards — often called night guards — are typically prescribed as a prophylactic.

While night guards may help to prevent some dental wear and tear, some studies suggest they can be ineffective or even make the problem worse. This has led some experts in the fields of dentistry, neuroscience, psychology and orthopedics to say there needs to be a paradigm shift in our understanding of the causes and treatment of bruxism. They say it is a behavior, like yawning, belching or sneezing, rather than a disorder.

“It’s not abnormal to brux,” said Frank Lobbezoo, a bruxism researcher and professor and chair of the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam in the Netherlands. “In fact, it can be good for you.”

Sleep studies indicate that the majority of people have three or more bursts of activity in the jaw’s masseter muscle (your major chewing muscle) during the night. It also happens during non-REM sleep. So, contrary to popular belief, you’re not doing it while you are dreaming.