Bruxism (teeth grinding): causes and symptoms

If when you wake up in the morning you feel a headache and unexplained jaw discomfort, you may have developed an unconscious habit called bruxism and that manifests itself especially while sleeping.

What is bruxism?

Bruxism is a basically involuntary and automatic tendency that consists in grinding the teeth by tensing the jaw without serving a clear purpose. It can appear in a waking state, as a habit that appears without being noticed (as in the case of the trichotillomania) or during sleep, when it is more difficult to control.

The gnashing of teeth that characterizes bruxism consists of the constant scrubbing of the molars and premolars, tightening the jaw and causing them to rub against each other repeatedly performing a movement from front to back or vice versa, or diagonally. In some cases the teeth located in the frontal area are also involved.

Regarding the types of bruxism, no unified classification system has been developed and in any case it is customary to describe, according to its intensity, the moment in which it manifests (during wakefulness, during sleep or in both states), its duration, etc. That is to say, beyond the description of the different symptoms through which this grinding of teeth manifests, there is no way to distinguish between variants of bruxism.

Symptoms of bruxism

Bruxism usually presents symptoms both at a psychological level and in the state of the tissues of the jaw and teeth. This means that they affect the quality of life of people in many ways and that their effects are not limited simply to the moments when teeth grinding is present.

The main symptoms of bruxism are the following:

• Jaw pain
• Wear of the teeth and weakening of their hold (long term).
• Insomnia.
• Stress.
• Headache.

In addition, bruxism can generate collateral effects such as the appearance of problems in the jaw joints, pain in the ears or psychological problems derived from lack of sleep and, if necessary, problems with eat.

Of course, the diagnosis of bruxism can only be made by a competent professional in the field, for which it is necessary to go through a medical review to determine whether or not this habit is present. In addition, since it is an act that appears involuntarily or during sleep, it is possible that someone else is the that is more aware of the presence of the symptoms and the one that indicates the need to go to a specialist.

Psychological and neurological causes of bruxism

The causes of bruxism are largely unknown, because many times its appearance appears to be triggered by neurological causes (and therefore difficult to understand per se) or psychological (in which case the triggers may be in the interaction of the person with elements of their environment).

That is why beyond some cases in which the appearance of bruxism is favored by the formation of the jaw and teeth, it has also been associated grinding of teeth with continuous episodes of stress, which in turn can be aggravated by lack of sleep and other symptoms of the bruxism.

As for the neurological houses of bruxism, these would be linked to a normal release and uptake of neurotransmitters in some parts of the brain, not necessarily due to structural malformations ..

Treatment of bruxism

The most used resource to protect from the effects of bruxism is the use of splints made with a mold that adapt to the teeth and protect them from dental wear. However, this solution only serves to partially alleviate the symptoms, and by itself does not serve to cure bruxism.

An effective treatment of teeth grinding must be carried out after proper medical examination, and in many cases should include measures to reduce stress levels, which is why specialized psychotherapy in parasomnias and anxiety disorders and training in relaxation techniques are recommended. The objective of these treatments carried out from the psychological approach will be to make the intensity in which bruxism occurs decrease significantly.