Grinding Teeth While Sleeping

biofreak

My cousin has a problem where as soon as he falls asleep he starts grinding his teeth. This is also a constant occurence. Anybody else have this problem or know what could be causing the problem?

Sparky

my cousin talks in his sleep, but grinding teeth ive never heard before.

The Bollox

I appently talk in my sleep also. according to a friend of mine I shouted "OWNED!" in my sleep one night

Silverfish

Supposedly caused by stress, I've worn my teeth to bits over the years with it, although my sister did it for years and she was pretty young so I doubt it was stress for her.

Only solution is wearing a mouth guard at night, takes a bit of getting used to.

Ag marbh

Tell him to avoid caffeine and other stimulants.

GrumPy

i did this when i was younger,

Le Rack

My four year old brother does it and it is terrible, woke me up one night or three! Apparently its just something kids do, my mam got all freaked and researched it, if your cousin is older mayber s/he just never grew out of it.

jonny68

Sparky_S wrote:

my cousin talks in his sleep, but grinding teeth ive never heard before.

When i took loads of E's years ago it was a common occurence with me in my sleep(and awake) :eek:

DawnMc

I have this particular problem very bad!!!! It's root causes are twofold - first being an overbite and second being a symtom of intense anger which one cannot find a way to express elsewhere.
It can also be a combination of the two

Azureus

i used to do this when i was younger too- its not uncommon though i dunno what causes it

Gordon

A friend of mine does it and sometimes wakes up her boyfriend. She gets headaches a lot because of it. Consider the mouth guard option. I think she gets it due to stress tbh.

Shrimp

biofreak wrote:

My cousin has a problem where as soon as he falls asleep he starts grinding his teeth. This is also a constant occurence. Anybody else have this problem or know what could be causing the problem?

supposedly this is a sign of having worms. Dont know how valid that is tho.

irlrobins

yea my sis does it. (30+ yrs old)

got a mouth guard made up for her to waer in bed at night.

I found i was grinding a bit myself, too awake and asleep Stress related apparantly....

Waltons

Marts wrote:

I appently talk in my sleep also. according to a friend of mine I shouted "OWNED!" in my sleep one night

Classic!

My dad used to grind his teeth in his sleep too apparently but I think he got some type of mouth guard to stop him. I think some type of mouth guard is definitely something to try

greglo23

this used to happen to me. gave up drinking lager and it stopped !

Rb

jonny68 wrote:

When i took loads of E's years ago it was a common occurence with me in my sleep(and awake) :eek:

Charming.



Apart from that, yeah you can get special mouth guards and it's well worth it cause after a while the teeth get wrecked.

Time Magazine

Marts wrote:

I appently talk in my sleep also. according to a friend of mine I shouted "OWNED!" in my sleep one night

While asleep, my brother shouted "L33T!" once.

Ragazza

Hi, I am a very bad grinder.
This was only ever a problem to those that had to share my bed until I dislocated my jaw. My jaw can not heal until I stop grinding my teeth. So I have quite the motivation to stop grinding!
I am seeing an orofacial pain specialist and he says the main if not only cause of grinding is stress. Now I am a fairly laid back person, I would have said if I was any more relaxed I would be asleep most of the time. He explained to me that everybody gets stressed to some degree and its how we deal with this stress that is the important thing here.
Bear with me I have a point!
I don't deal with stressfull situations by getting angry (I don't get road rage)
I don't sweat, or chew my nails or tense my neck muscles or any of the other classic signs of stress. I wait until I am asleep and take it all out on my teeth. (Well not now I have to wear a splint at night) My doctor reckons if I lost my temper a bit more often or found a proper release for my stress I would stop grinding.
Possible solutions: Herbal sleeping tablets, they relax you in sleep.
Vigorous exercise in the evenings. Don't try and reduse stress just find a way to recognise and deal with it.
Wow long post:)

Esel

My cousin ... oh nevermind!

Anyway, it's called 'bruxism' and I'm sure Google is a mine of information on it.

[edit]

or see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruxism

Blondie86Star

My bro used to grind his teeth, I dint know until I had to share with him when we were on a family holiday a few years ago (he was 13). he had to get a mouth guard, but he sorta grew out of it

NoDayBut2Day

I have a friend who claims he used to do this. I dont' think it's a problem for him anymore though.

The_Conductor

Its a problem for me- I even grind my teeth when I get stressed out when I am awake. My poor teeth are in bits. A dentist can have an upper gum rubber guard custom made for you though- I wear it when I go to sleep now. It does take a bit of getting used to- but is well worth it in the long run.

S.

rubadub

smccarrick wrote:

It does take a bit of getting used to- but is well worth it in the long run.

Then you get to used to it and can't sleep right without it

Sifo

Im 24 and Im told that i grind my teeth to the extent they make that squeeking noise.. It may be stress related as was mentioned several times..

It really started getting to me so i did a bit of reseach i.e. google... My solution was not simple. I found that the stress in my sleep was due to me not getting up off my ar5e and doing what i needed to do..

example - telling yourself your going to do something and then not doing it. before i found that i would just say "i'll do it some other time", and i thought this was fine, but realistically your breaking a promise to yourself and on a subconcious level you get stressed. Your subconcious is very important part of your dreams!!

good luck, hope it gets sorted!!

Kingp35

My girlfriend grinds her teeth when she sleeps and it annoys the hell out of me! She gets stressed very easily so I would imagine this is teh cause of it. Of course when I saw it to her she denies that she does.

I might mention the mouth guard thing to her.

BossArky

My girlfriend grind her teeth during her sleep and makes a terrible noise akin to rubbing stones together. Its really loud and sounds awful. I usually wake up when this happens and have to tap her on the cheek a few times to stop it.

Sometimes if I am reading and she falls asleep against my shoulder I can feel her jaw slowly starting to tense, and then "snap" shut once, the a bit quicker then second time, then faster the third time, ... until she actually starts the grinding. Would hate to think what would happen if she chomped that hard on her tongue.

Apparently I do grind my teeth a bit too. I do drink buckets of tea late at night though. Probably stressed a bit. Sure aren't we all.

Therapy had a decent song called "teethgrinder".

Flukey

A friend of mine does it. He uses a mouth guard as well.

Trix

the dentist told me im a teeth grinder and id have no teeth left in a few years. but then she told me the price for a special mouth guard. 300 euros or so. i think i was only grinding them when i was abroad working and i was kinda stressed at the time. my boyfriend grinds his teeth too sometimes but he's not stressed out so i don't really know what the reason for it is.

Sarsfield

BossArky wrote:

Would hate to think what would happen if she chomped that hard on her tongue.

I've done it! I grind my teeth a lot in my sleep and I've no doubt it's stress related. On more than one occasion I've caught the side of my tongue in my teeth. It wakes you up with a jolt :eek: And it leaves a nasty sore blister Since I've taken up swimming in the evenings it does help me work off stress and sleep better so the problem is now much reduced.

FX Meister

I'm a night time grinder so I got a splint from my dentist. He said you are more prone to grind after a few drinks and not to forget to wear it going to bed after a night out for that reason.

Supercell

Shrimp wrote:

supposedly this is a sign of having worms. Dont know how valid that is tho.

Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool, that really made me laugh out loud, Shrimp i dunno if this is was a troll but thanks for the laugh!!

OMcGovern

I was told by my dentist that I grind my teeth.... and he said he'd measure me up for a toothguard thingy next visit. Although I didn't feel it was quite that serious to visit him again just for that.
I do realise that my jaw is quite tense during the day too.... although chewing gum may help release some tension there.

In the meantime, I dropped into a sports shop, and bought a gumshield for €3.
It was kind of comfortable, cos I sleep on my stomach which forces the weight on my head down on my jaws. So sleep position may also affect teeth grinding.

I haven't seen what the proper dental toothguard looks like... and I'm sure that gumshields aren't meant to be worn sleeping.
However, for those interested... you buy them, put them in boiling water, let them cool down slightly, then put them in your mouth, and they shrink to a perfect fit. They just won't fall out of your mouth once they shrink to fit you.

regards,
Owen

Siogfinsceal

i do this soemtimes its a habit usually in people who get stressed or sleep walk and talk. if it gets really bad you are meant to get a special mouth guard to wear in your sleep cos you can wear your teeth down and cut your mouth

arbeitsscheuer

Actually this is a very common habit among smokers tbh. Most just don't grind their teeth as noticably/audibly as the guy the OP talks about, but apparently we (smokers) all do it. The heavier you smoke, the more you grind your teeth.

DawnMc

Interesting Seb - I smoke quite a bit - always thought the grinding was down to stress but smoking sounds right I suppose - prob the lack of nicotine - must start getting up at 4am for a smoke!!!!!!!

Tar.Aldarion

biofreak wrote:

My cousin has a problem where as soon as he falls asleep he starts grinding his teeth. This is also a constant occurence. Anybody else have this problem or know what could be causing the problem?

My friend has the same problem, she wears a mouthguard(rugby style) at night to stop it.