Is Stress Making You Clench Your Teeth?

Bruxism, or the act of clenching or grinding your teeth, typically at night, has long been related to the emotional wellbeing or mental health. In fact, a 2019 study showed that people who clench their teeth exhibited a higher than average level of stress hormones. This supports additional research that your psychological and emotional wellbeing is very closely tied to whether or not you might be clenching or grinding your teeth.

As a whole, clenching teeth stress as a broader condition has been closely observed to be a psychosomatic issue, meaning it’s very closely tied to one’s stress level and mental health. In addition to stress, other emotional and psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression, and others are also closely linked to bruxism and its side effects. To understand this, it’s important to consider how the body responds to stress. During a fight or flight response, the human body can tighten specific muscle groups as a natural reaction to stressful stimuli. Specifically, your jaw muscle (the masseter) is one specific muscle group that can tighten up as a result of stress. You may or may not feel this, especially during sleep, but a slight and consistent tightening of the masseter muscle can lead to soreness, tightness, or inflammation of the masseter muscle, which then leads to clenching your teeth as a way to relieve that muscle group.

Closely related to the masseter muscle is the temporalis muscle, which is the muscle that surrounds the temple and sides of the head. This is why clenching your teeth often leads to headaches or migraines. The stress-induced activation of the masseter muscle then leads to the activation or the temporalis muscle, which triggers the headache or migraine.

Although there’s only limited research on bruxism, it’s considered a growing psychosomatic sleeping disorder and warrants further research as sleep disorder. As with many sleep disorders, there is a strong psychological or emotional wellbeing component, which makes it quite a difficult disorder to not only diagnose, but also to understand and treat. A combination of factors can contribute to the disorder, and a proper assessment or treatment requires a holistic understanding of the potential causes, especially the psychological components of the disorder.

An occlusal guard, otherwise known as a bruxism splint, or a night guard, can definitely help. Among other things like cognitive behavioral therapy, prescription medication, and even botox, this is one of the easiest and proven ways to combat the harmful effects of bruxism. An occlusal guard is typically purchased from your dentist, which is custom made according to the exact shape and size of your teeth by the dental lab. These can often be cost-prohibitive but many online dental labs, such as Chomper Labs, are going direct to consumer to make a custom made occlusal guard at a much more affordable price point. These are the exact same mouth guards you might get from the dentist, but doesn’t require a dental visit or having to pay an arm and a leg.

The occlusal guard works by acting as a protective barrier in absorbing and distributing the clenching forces of your teeth, often during sleep but sometimes during the day as well. This reduces the amount of tension placed on the jaw muscles, which can in turn reduce soreness or tightness in the jaw as well as headaches. It’s important to realize that an occlusal guard is not considered a cure for bruxism, but rather a way to adequately protect your teeth from being damaged by clenching or grinding. The good news is that an occlusal guard is one of the easiest, most affordable, and painless ways to address teeth clenching and grinding. It may be daunting to evaluate your bruxism as a whole and attempt to consider the potential underlying psychological factors involved, but a night guard is definitely a good place to start!

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