How to Stop Grinding Your Teeth at Night

This is a guest post from Genevieve’s husband.

On the morning of the big presentation my jaw ached as if I’d just chewed through our pillowtop mattress. And maybe my nightstand too. I’d been clenching my teeth all night long.

Like I always do when I’m stressed.

In the spirit of this blog, I’m exploring ways to relax and reduce stress. But in the meantime, I had to do something about my poor choppers.

My dentist checked me out and found that, while I didn’t have the wear associated with grinding, the sensitive and sore muscles in my mouth were telltale signs of a clencher.

This is a pretty common habit known as bruxism, and it’s the source of dental problems, migraines, poor sleep, and even bad backs.

Here are the solutions my dentist offered – and a video that may help you decide what method’s right for you.

Over-the-counter mouth guards
Mouth guards are a tried and true solution for taking the bite out of bruxism. And if price is a concern, one of the over-the-counter jobs are a good place to start. They range in price from $12 to $60.

Some OTC mouth guards enable you to fit them to the contours of your teeth – just boil and bite.

This mouth guard on Amazon has 85 mostly positive reviews.

Be warned that some people say the boil and bite method has burned their gums! Others say that these guards get chewed up pretty quickly. And all that melted plastic in your mouth can’t be good for you.

Prescription mouth guards
Genevieve uses a prescription mouth guard to prevent her from grinding her teeth. This solution usually costs a grand, but the result is a perfect fit.

With a medical mouth guard like this, a dentist will take custom impressions of your teeth and build them into the mouth guard. Because of custom fit, it also serves as a retainer so your teeth don’t move with age.

These guards are made of a harder, higher quality acrylic that won’t wear out as fast as the OTC mouth guards. Genevieve’s had hers for a few years and it’s still going strong.

NTI mouth guard device
My dentist recommended the NTI “tension suppression system” to help me stop clenching my teeth at night.

This is a minimal acrylic device that’s custom fitted to my lower front teeth and, when it’s snapped in, prevents my molars from making any contact at all. Goodbye clenching. (And goodbye $600, although I hope insurance will cover much of it.)

Plus, because only your incisors make contact, the device reduces muscle contraction intensity. Which means you’re not pumping up the muscles in the side of your head all night long. These muscle contractions interrupt our sleep patterns and prevent us from getting solid, restful sleep.

I’ve used the device for five days now and, although it was a little uncomfortable on the first night, my teeth feel a lot better in the morning. Last night was particularly restful.

Here’s a video of me and the NTI.

What about you? Do you use a device to stop you from grinding or clenching your teeth at night?

Tagged as: bruxism, clenching, night, sleep, teeth, Video