Bruxism is the term used by dentists referring to the act of teeth grinding. This problem has been successfully treated in London for many years. Bruxism usually occurs when you are sleeping, and there are numerous causes, including but not limited to: a discrepancy in jaw position when the teeth meet upon biting creating a slip when the teeth are clenched together; malposition or misalignment of teeth; and stress. Bruxism also occurs in children, usually because their teeth are not touching each other properly during their development. This will not usually last when the adult teeth develop and are biting together in the mouth. However, it is important for both children and adults to visit the dentist when teeth grinding occurs, and to also have their regular dental check-ups.Although bruxism is not a major health problem, it may initiate problems, such as mouth, jaw and facial pain. Bruxism can also occur because of faulty dental restorations, ill-fitting partial or full dentures, missing teeth, teeth prematurely biting together, etc. Your dentist can place a thin piece of carbon-like paper between your teeth to see if you are biting prematurely on certain teeth. There are also numerous other tests that can be performed by your dentist to see where the problem may lie. Your dentist may fabricate either a customized soft rubbery appliance or hard clear acrylic appliance for you to wear as both a diagnostic aid, or as treatment for your teeth grinding. If your regular dentist is unable to help you, you may be referred to the proper specialist for help.

There are several common therapies for bruxism. One of these is stress management, and referral to the proper professional. However, this may not be easy to accomplish, because some people do not readily see the mouth-mental health connection. As previously mentioned, an acrylic appliance can help both diagnose and provide dental therapy to people that grind their teeth. Also, a soft rubbery appliance can be manufactured. These appliances should be custom made for each individual, using a mold of their mouth that is taken by a licensed dentist. Dental procedures that restore the proper bite and functioning of the patient’s teeth may also be necessary, along with bite adjustments where the dentist marks the teeth and properly adjusts the patient’s bite. Perhaps helping the patient to overcome some long-developed bad habits such as improper teeth, mouth and jaw positioning would help. Sometimes dentists will use short-term medications to help to relax their patient, but this could lead to dependence on these medications and this is not highly recommended.

A rough estimate says that 3 in children and 1 among 20 adults unintentionally grind teeth, mostly during night. The sound that comes by grinding is called bruxism. A wife came in complaining of night grinding of teeth by her husband to the extent she had to shift her bed to another room,” says a dentist practicing in suburbs of London.
The noise truly is loud enough to bother people around. Not just that, unfortunately it renders disastrous effects on the person that grinds his/her teeth than he/she knows.
“Bruxism can exert great pressure on teeth surface that one can imagine,” says the expert; “to the tune of 10s in 100s of pounds per square inch.” This pressure can deal badly with the gum the tooth sits in as well as the bone that supports tooth, sometimes even a jaw joint can also face the music of bruxism.
Although, people who do grinding of teeth say that they do to release excess tension or emotional stress and/or nervousness, dental experts believe the cause is there within the mouth of a bruxist; grinding could be a person’s unconscious endeavor to tweak in the irregularities of their respective biting as well as chewing teeth surfaces, to correct inappropriate bite. Dental experts say that it is malocclusion.
If you notice a bruxist in your house don’t escape from him rather bring him/her to a dental expert before there is serious damage to teeth, gums and jaw joints,” says the bruxism expert in London.

Most parents in London could have heard their kids grinding their teeth during sleep. Some people grind/clench their teeth when they get anger or stress. That is quite normal. But this tooth grinding action can be with or without their knowledge. The Medical term for teeth grinding is bruxism. Teeth grinding or chewing action is a complex neuromuscular reflex activity, which is controlled by the brain (higher center) when we are awake. During sleep, the higher center or brain is inactive and the chewing reflex center, which becomes active, is not controlled by the inactive higher center resulting in bruxism. Most people who grind their teeth do so during sleep and this is called sleep bruxism.  These people are quite unaware of it until someone sleep with them notices. Sometimes people don’t notice at all and become aware of it when evaluated for other conditions such as jaw pain, headaches, dental sensitivity or dental erosion or TMD. The aetiology of this complaint is actually unknown. There are various theories such as stress, psychological causes, nutritional deficiency of vitamins such pyridoxin, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium etc. In some people, it is associated with some sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, snoring, etc. Teeth grinding is very common in children during teething, both when milk teeth appear and also when permanent teeth develop. Children generally outgrow this problem when the teeth erupt completely hence, no treatment is required. However, if your child grinds off his/her teeth for long, it might require treatment. In London, dentists generally suggest the use of mouth guards to protect the child’s teeth, if they don’t require any specific treatment. Sometimes they might be just stressed out or anxious before going to bed. So, when you identify this problem, don’t wake him/her from sleep to tell them, “hi you’re grinding your teeth”. Instead, just help them relax by telling or reading out some good small stories, or by just talking to them about nice things when they go to bed.  Some adults are also found to have this problem, which occasionally is associated with other dental problems such as nonalignment of teeth, malocclusion, structural abnormalities of the jaws etc., hence treating the root cause helps to get rid of this problem without any special treatment. So if you suspect you have bruxism, better not hesitate to visit your dentist and find out whether you have any dental conditions that is causing this problem.  Sometimes this clenching or grinding of teeth could result in serious problems with temporomandibular joints. Bruxism can also lead to wearing off of teeth, chronic headaches, pain in jaws, restriction in the movement of mandible, ear pain, etc. For adults, the use of dental guards could be of some help in constraining bruxism and protecting their teeth from irregular wearing and early erosion. So, the next time you feel like clenching your teeth, just relax… count 1,2, 3,…. and your teeth are saved.