Teeth grinding?

[Maxman190]

I just went to a brand new dentist today for a check-up. I was told that looking upon my teeth, there's evidence that I grind my teeth at night and recommended that I wear nightguard. I went to look at a copy of the tritation test results, is there anything that tells me how many times I bite down on my teeth? How do I have a 100% confirmation that I grind my teeth during sleep, my dentist or my sleep doctor?

Also, if I grind my teeth during my sleep, wouldn't my sleep doctor have told me about it or my previous dentist? I know the teeth grinding isn't recent because my teeth looked the same for the past few years.

[Julie]

The machine cannot directly recognize bruxism (tooth grinding) or break it down into times, though it may affect how you breathe, so that could be reflected in your results, but the only way I would think you could decide which events were due to bruxism would be to have someone watch you all night, recognize and time your grinding (which may not always be obvious), and then match the times to possible events of some kind on your graphs, plus sort those out from apneas... sounds a bit undo-able to me. Why no one told before is something you'd have to ask them.

[Sir NoddinOff]

My various dentists have been telling me that for 25 years, but none offered any real conclusive proof. Over those decades, my teeth have been pretty normal in terms of maintenance and all other aspects, therefore I have been somewhat skeptical about their warnings. However, I recently did start wearing an inexpensive teeth grinding preventer I found on the internet... mostly because it stabilizes my lower jaw so that it doesn't drop back and make my full face mask leak. If it stops my supposed teeth grinding then all the better. Hey, what can I say... I can still pop off bottle caps with my teeth. <kidding>

[AnA20132014]

Bruxism is a tricky topic. A lot of "grey" areas but if a dentist says you grind your teeth I would believe him. He can see things you can't.
I am a dental hygienist so I think I can maybe help here-
It always amazes me how many people swear that they're not grinding their teeth at night. I ask them "How do you know? You're asleep!" The list of reasons range from "my jaw doesn't hurt in the morning" to "my husband/wife would hear me" to "I make myself sleep with my mouth open". One guy recently told me that he takes medications that dry his mouth out and as a result, he sleeps with his mouth open so he knows for a fact that he is NOT grinding or clenching his teeth.

Truth is, guys, you don't know. You can't possibly know. But a dentist knows. So, if a dentist says that you grind your teeth, please believe them. They can see things you can't.

Also, here's something you should know. Bruxing (teeth grinding) is not an action that occurs all night long. Typically, it happens in these short, intense bursts. So you may not be grinding/clenching your teeth 80-90% of the time, but if you're doing it 10% of the time, you're suffering from Bruxism (and potentially, all the not-so-lovely effects).

One more thing, you can get a custom made night guard online through companies like Sentinel Mouthguard Co. They sell the exact same thing for a lot less than what your dentist is going to charge. Hope this helps!

Ana

[HealthyandHopeful]

Wow, Ana, I am going to look into the Sentjnel Mouthguard! I have used a night guard for 7 years now and they are expensive to replace. Thanks for this info!

[Craig-Tx]

You could always try the TapPap. Nasal pillows and a mouth guard in one. I also greeting my teeth. So far I've got only about a week on the tap pap, but I like it.

[lido14]

About a year ago a dentist suggested I get a night guard and I think its helped a lot.