Teeth grinding and night guards
Do you grind your teeth at night, or do you wear a night guard? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, this article is for you. The typical way to treat tooth grinding, also known as bruxism, is with a night guard. You can have one professionally made by a dentist or purchase one over-the-counter at any drugstore or even over the Internet! But does this treat the underlying cause of the bruxism?
When your breathing stops during the night, your brain causes you to clench your teeth to activate your tongue, and it further causes you to grind your teeth, moving your lower jaw forward to pull your tongue forward to open your airway. A night guard might help to reduce the wear on your teeth at night, but it may actually make the underlying cause of the bruxism worse!
Neither you or your dentist should treat your bruxism without determining the cause of your grinding. Using a night guard for bruxism at night may make a person have more trouble breathing at night. Of course, not every dentist is aware of this problem, since they may not have any specialized training in the treatment of sleep breathing disorders — specifically sleep apnea, which can kill you.
Because of this possibility, you must determine what the root cause of your bruxism is before any treatment is started. And this can only be done with a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea as the cause. But that’s not all! If sleep apnea is not the cause, a night guard can be made, and a follow up sleep study must be done to determine that the night guard is not causing sleep apnea. This is necessary because studies have shown that in 50 percent of the cases, night guards can cause sleep apnea in patients who do not have it, and can increase sleep apnea in patients who already do.
The take-away here is that using a night guard may help protect your teeth, but it may also subject you to increased levels of sleep apnea, which has severe consequences. Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, anxiety, and cancer are just a few. So make sure you are tested thoroughly before and after you get a night guard.
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Dr. Donald Johnson founded Northwest Treatment Center for Snoring & Sleep Apnea in Coeur d’Alene to help patients stop their snoring and live free with no limits! His office is at 114 W. Neider Ave., near Costco. The website for more information is www.nwsleepdoc.com and the office phone is (208) 667-4551. Schedule an appointment today!