Do you wake up with a sore jaw from grinding your teeth during sleep?
Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism, is when two opposing muscles in your jaw contract simultaneously, causing your teeth to grind together. It hurts, it makes noise, it affects your quality of life, and most importantly, it's unhealthy.
To treat it, most people would resort to seeing their dentist and putting money into dental procedures. While it’s true that dental care is worth investing in, however, it can come with a significant price tag.
Fortunately, you do not only need to resort to pricey dental procedures to resolve your bruxism. Read on for tips by Zinus on how to prevent grinding teeth:
What is Bruxism?
Bruxism is a condition in which you grind, gnash, or clench your teeth. It can occur during the day or at night, and it can cause significant damage to your teeth over time. The exact cause is unknown, but there are several factors that may contribute to the condition. These include stress, genetics, misaligned teeth, and an abnormal bite. It is also more common in people who use tobacco products or consume alcohol excessively.
Some symptoms of bruxism include:
- Audible teeth grinding
- Clenched, tight jaw muscles
- Headaches or earaches
- Damaged or chipped teeth
- Disturbed sleep
- Painful jaws or face muscles
While it is normal to occasionally grind your teeth or clench your jaw during sIeep, bruxism can have severe long-term health consequences if it becomes a prolonged habit. Possible side effects include damage to your teeth, jaw, lips, mouth, or face.
How To Prevent Teeth Grinding Naturally
There are several things you can do to naturally prevent your teeth from grinding at night. These include:
1. Doing Some Relaxation Exercises
Exercises such as yoga, meditation, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation are all effective for relaxing your mind and body, and can help reduce teeth grinding. This is especially important if you have had a stressful day and need to
2. Keeping track of your daily habits
Keeping a daily journal can help you identify patterns in your behaviour that might indicate possible triggers for tooth grinding. For example, if you notice that you grind your teeth more after getting less sleep than usual, you may want to try changing your schedule and sticking to a regular bedtime. Stress and anxiety are also often linked to bruxism, so look out for triggers that can raise your anxiety levels throughout the day.
3. Starting a Bedtime Routine
After you’ve taken notice of your potential triggers for teeth grinding, start planning your bedtime routine around avoiding those triggers. Before you head off to sleep, make sure to do activities that relax and calm you down. You should avoid watching TV or reading books for at least one hour before hitting the hay. Try relaxing with a soothing bath or listening to calming music instead.
4. Avoiding Too Much Alcohol Before Bedtime
In certain amounts, alcohol relaxes your body and makes it easier to fall asleep. But if you drink too much, it can make you wake up in the middle of the night due to anxiety. Alcohol can also increase saliva production, which makes it harder to stop teeth grinding. Chamomile tea or plain water are better options if you want to drink something before bed.
Choosing The Right Mattress
Is your mattress bruxism-friendly? Mattresses can be one of the prime reasons for sleep disturbances—or the reason why you’ve gotten the best sleep of your life. One of the ways to deal with teeth grinding is by investing in a good mattress that helps you get a good night’s sleep.
It is important to use a mattress that distributes your body weight uniformly throughout. This way, you can sleep well at night and prevent teeth grinding naturally. There are mattresses that are deliberately customised to support your back while reducing motion transfer for uninterrupted sleep.
Take our Zinus iCoil Spring Mattresses for example, for as low as $179, you can own a mattress that uses iCoil technology to provide pressure relief-support, customised spinal alignment, and reduced motion transfer from sleeping partners.
A memory foam mattress is also a great option to combat bruxism. This type of mattress fuses a layer of adaptable padding combined with springs or back foam. Our memory foam hybrid spring mattress offers noteworthy help and solace, utilising your body heat to relax and form your shape. At a cheap price, this type of mattress will memorise your sleeping posture and body shape, hence the name "memory".
Buy The Right Mattress For You Online In Singapore
If you are in Singapore and are eyeing getting the right mattress to help you with bruxism, contact us so we can recommend the best mattress to suit your needs. You do not have to worry as we make things easy for you with our online delivery service. On top of that, we also offer a 100-day free trial so you can thoroughly test out your Zinus mattress in the comfort of your home.