Teeth grinding / bruxism

[Lin]

Before braces, I never clenched or ground my teeth at night. But now, with them on, I find that very often I wake up feeling sore from having clenched/ground my teeth all night... sometimes I clench/grind my teeth during the day now, too, but when I am aware of it I can stop it.

My top teeth hit my bottom brackets, and one night I think my top teeth actually sawed off a bumper lig on one of the bottom brackets during the grinding! I guess I swallowed it, it was gone the next day.

Anyway, does anybody else have this teeth grinding problem or advice on easing it up somehow? Especially at night. I guess there is only so much I can do now that the braces are on?

[Kourtney Kitty]

Hey Lin, the only thing I can think of is a night guard. I had to get one for the same issues. Clenching can really screw up your jaws. I am getting braces to permanently fix my jaw so that I dont have to wear my night/day guard anymore. You really have to make a conscious effort to stop the clenching. Let me know if I was able to help, or if you have any more questions.

[Lin]

Hi Kourtney Kitty! Thanks for your reply I had heard about nightguards, but I already have braces... and I thought that I couldn't wear a nightguard with braces. Anyone know about this?

[jcdamon3]

I am a big bruxer too. I have heard about nightgaurds that work with braces but I think that you should speak to your ortho about it. Nightguards can sometimes keep your teeth totally apart which could open up your bite. This is something that the ortho may not be too happy about. I am waiting until my braces are off before I use a nightguard. I am just going to suffer because I can't think of tolerating anything else in my mouth right now. I am not trying to discourage you -- I would just speak to the ortho and/or dentist about it.

Let us know what you find out from them. Alternatively you can post on the ask doc forum. I have not seen very many replies from the ortho lately though.