What is Bruxism? Bruxism is the clenching or grinding of teeth. It's a fairly common habit with about 1 in 3 exhibiting the behavior, yet most don't even realize they're affected. That's partly because bruxism can occur while sleeping at night, but also because the habit develops subconsciously, usually due to stress or anxiety. Recognizing [...]
Everyday Habits can Impact Oral Health Most of us have a bad habit or two that we'd like to change. Here are some common habits that are especially hard on teeth: Biting or Chewing Non-Foods Items Maybe you've done it for years with no harm, but each time you bite a non-food object is unnecessary [...]
Are You Subconsciously Grinding? Sensitivity to heat and cold. Loosened teeth, fractures, and debilitating headaches. All this can occur while you sleep—from grinding your teeth. Dentistry calls it bruxism. Talk about shell shock. Dentists see evidence of life in the fast lane everyday. As many as 90 percent of us grind our teeth each night, [...]
Special Concerns for Older Adults Along with those gray hairs and inevitable smile lines, your mouth undergoes natural changes over the years, as well. Among them: Cutting edge of teeth are worn flat by chewing or grinding. Remember to keep regularly scheduled hygiene appointments to check for cavities. Consider dental sealants to prevent decay, or [...]
There's only one good thing about a visibly damaged tooth: here, clearly, is where the pain's coming from and where our response will be focused. But complaints of "tooth pain" without a clear source or origin—now, that's something else entirely. Say you've been good with your hygiene, faithful in your checkups, and you wake up [...]
And the Stress Factor Dentists and researchers aren't completely agreed about the cause of nightly tooth-grinding, or bruxism. But they are aligned on two points: at least partly, it's related to daily stress, and it's happening to more people. It may sound funny, but it's no joke: without food to absorb the impact, teeth can [...]
No, we're not talking about being attacked by a junkyard dog. That's perilous enough. The bite in question here is your own bite—the way your lower teeth and your upper teeth come together. A bad bite can be responsible for several woes you might not necessarily connect, like headaches, unsightly teeth and TMJ disorder. Let's [...]
It's such a common habit, yet most of the time we never know we're doing it. Not cracking your knuckles or biting fingernails, but intense clenching and grinding of your teeth—known in dental terminology as bruxism. The reason this phenomenon goes unnoticed so often is that "grinders" usually perform when they're sleeping. Most research agrees [...]
Tooth-related habits, too, can be conscious (brushing and flossing) or unconscious—chewing on pencils, for example. Dental habits become bad when teeth are expected to do things they're not cut out for—opening bottles, chewing off the little plastic tags on new clothing, trimming nails, and so on. And bad dental habits can be downright dangerous. To [...]
Train that Tongue Without therapy, the wrong oral habits, sooner or later, will cause tooth movement, breathing and speech problems You'd think swallowing is easy as falling off a log. But some of us need help retraining muscles that we've been using wrong all along. A "bad" swallow is just the luck of the draw, [...]
