Bruxism, the Carolini phenomenon, odonterism - these are the scientific terms that hide the pathology that many people often encounter. Unconscious grinding of teeth often appears sporadically and lasts for a short time period, without causing significant harm to health. When bruxism becomes permanent, which causes a lot of problems, you need to think about its treatment.
The article also discusses the main causes of squeaking with teeth.
The boundary between simple gnashing of teeth and bruxism
To distinguish between illness and unpleasant syndrome, you need to make a lot of work.
The most common method for the clinical diagnosis of pathology is electromyography or EMG, that is, recording the electrical activity of the oral muscles through special sensors. But before you go for an examination, you need to pay attention to those signals that the body sends.
A specific feature of bruxism is the grinding of teeth in the daytime and at night, and it is completely unconscious. And if during the day the problem can be easily noticed, then at night these sounds are heard mostly by relatives and friends.
Symptoms
What symptoms may indicate teeth creaking in their sleep.
- Transformation of the size and shape of the crown area of the teeth: irregularities appear on them, and shortening, which is caused by shrinkage, is also characteristic.
- Migraine, tinnitus, neck pain and jaw clicks are not obvious symptoms of adult dental creak in a dream.
- The appearance on the mucous membrane of the inner surface of the cheeks of painful ulcers due to its frequent biting.
- In the morning - a feeling of overwhelming.
The danger of tooth grinding in a dream
Gritting teeth in a dream in adults, when a person is not able to get rid of it for a long time, can cause many problems. Firstly, enamel is erased, which leads to the appearance of excessive sensitivity and the formation of caries.
If the case is too severe, then the grinding of teeth during the day and night can last for many years. People prone to bruxism can grind their teeth almost to the root. The service period of all orthopedic structures is reduced several times. In this case, pathological dental mobility, gingival recession, clicks during swallowing appear. Gritting teeth in a dream in people also causes excessive tension of tissues around the jaw, joints and muscles, respectively, pain cannot be avoided in them. All this causes apnea at night - a fairly serious syndrome.
A complement to all of the above pathologies with regular tooth creaking is the possibility of harming human mental health. Bruxism is a symptom of the patient's inability to cope with stressful situations, rest and relax. That is why the disease very quickly tires a person and can even lead to depressive disorders.
What causes adults to gnash their teeth in a dream?
Often gritting your teeth can become an ordinary habit, for example, due to the constant chewing of the tip of a pencil.
The cause of bruxism is mainly stress. A person gives out a natural reaction to a stressful situation - his jaw clenches. By clenching his teeth, a person thus reacts to a strong overexcitation of his body due to stressful situations that are associated with high brain activity, the use of alcohol, amphetamine, caffeine, nicotine and other substances. But constant and uncontrolled gritting of teeth indicates the impossibility of dealing with nervous tension.
Teeth grinding during the day and at night is also the result of numerous dentoalveolar pathologies: lack of teeth, malocclusion or the presence of supercomplex.
People with Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases have a penchant for bruxism.
Another reason for teeth grinding in a dream can be hidden in one of the varieties of insomnia, which is characterized by superficial sensitive sleep and too frequent arousal of a person.
Teeth grinding and worms
The myth of the relationship between grinding teeth and the presence of worms in the body is still not lost. Especially when it comes to grinding teeth with children. The misconception is based on the fact that in the presence of parasites in the intestines, the child makes masticatory movements of an involuntary nature caused by excessive saliva. But such signs have nothing to do with bruxism. In reality, the causes of grinding teeth in a dream in children and adults, as well as grinding during wakefulness, are not connected in any way with the presence of worms in the body.
Bruxism therapy
How is dental treatment of squeaking with teeth in adults? What to do in this case? First of all, such a pathology is a problem, all the symptoms of which can be minimized by conscious effort. Thus, if a person notices a habit of grinding teeth, you need to:
- Minimize all stress factors.
- Learn relaxing techniques and auto-training - listen to bedtime music for relaxation and periodically take an aromatic bath.
- Before falling asleep, it is recommended to load your chewing muscles - well chew carrots, an apple or something like that.
- Before going to bed, you can apply a warm compress to your cheeks, which will help to relax.
- If possible, learn to control yourself throughout the day - to relax the muscles as soon as the first signals of tension appear.
- At the beginning of the development of occlusion defects, you should immediately go to dentistry.
- To solve psychological problems, it is advisable to seek psychological advice. Of course, before this, it is necessary to identify the causes of grinding of teeth in a dream in adults and children.
E.S., Associate Professor of Dentistry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University To solve the problem, Kaplan advises keeping your teeth and mouth in a resting position throughout the day, closing your lips together and keeping your teeth apart. However, they should be in contact only during chewing food.
Elimination of dental problems
In order not to grit your teeth in a dream, you need to eliminate all the problems of the dental sphere. The most effective currently are the treatment of bruxism through the use of bioplastic night cap. To this end, they are put on the teeth, which protects against abrasion and bruxism. With bruxism, the burl is made according to an individual cast, the material is transparent. Designs are developed as single-jaw and double-jaw. Capa is almost invisible while wearing. With an attack of tooth grinding, she takes all the pressure on herself. But the mouthguard does not allow you to get rid of the pathology, it only minimizes the harmful effects.
Thanks to the night mouth guard used by adult patients, you can:
- get rid of tooth creaking at night;
- protect teeth from abrasion;
- protect teeth from displacement;
- prevent fractures of various orthopedic structures;
- reduce the stress exerted on the maxillofacial system.
Elimination of muscle hypertonicity
If the symptoms of tooth grinding are severe at night, then you can go to the maxillofacial surgeon to eliminate muscle hypertonicity. In some cases, if you need to get rid of bruxism, you must first install a muscle relaxant mouthguard, that is, a special tire that relaxes the muscles for up to two weeks. A number of patients are assisted by mechanical devices that are used to treat snoring.
With the progression of the disease in the most serious cases, injections of drugs are prescribed, relaxing chewing muscles (botox injections become especially popular). An additional medication for grinding teeth at night is calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins.
Despite the fact that at the very beginning bruxism seems harmless, it without fail requires the earliest possible treatment, since in the future it can cause serious damage to the body, requiring serious financial investments. Thus, we examined the causes of squeaking with teeth in a dream in adults.
How can cure bruxism with folk remedies?
The most common cause of the appearance of the pathology is the tension of the nervous system and stresses that the body is not able to cope with. The number one challenge in treating bruxism with folk remedies is relaxation. For this, herbal decoctions, for example, on valerian, chamomile, massages and relaxing baths, reading light pleasant literature, walking in the fresh air before going to bed, may be suitable. The jaw can be relaxed with a warm towel that is applied to the cheeks. But the help of professionals should not be neglected. As a rule, in dental clinics there is everything necessary to eliminate unpleasant symptoms. Specialists will prescribe a complex treatment that will allow you to get rid of squeaking with your teeth.
Prevention of this pathology
To achieve relaxation, you need to reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates in your diet. Add nuts, vegetables and fruits to the menu. It is also recommended to engage in light physical exercises that will relieve the patient’s body of fatigue and allow you to get endorphins - hormones of joy.
Tooth grinding, or bruxism, is not just a habit that annoys a person, but also an indicator of health problems. By applying for dental care on time, you can not only save your smile from an aesthetic point of view, but also improve your overall well-being.
The article presented the main causes of squeaking with teeth in adults and children.