Clenching teeth?

[Catrin]

Several times this year I've woken up at 2am with HORRIBLE throbbing dental pain (upper left). For someone with a high tolerance for pain, I would put this at something like an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10. Each time my dentist came to the conclusion that since there wasn't anything wrong with my teeth that it had to be from sinus pressure.

I had this happen last night - it actually impacts that entire upper left of my mouth, all teeth, and indeed even touching one of the affected teeth, running my tongue over any of the teeth, or even drawing in a deep breath so that AIR touches that portion of my mouth causes increased pain. If I force myself to lay there and relax my jaw, the pain goes away after about 15 minutes, or at least relents enough that I get back to sleep. One or two of those teeth are typically still sore at breakfast, all signs of pain/discomfort gone by mid-morning and that, is that, until the next time. Thankfully it's only happened two other times this year, and my dentist can't find anything wrong.

I found myself clenching my jaws yesterday, and even had the though before bed that perhaps this might be the cause of it. Then, lo and behold, it happened last night - though not QUITE as bad as in the past. Only a 6-7 rather than an 8, but bad enough.

Has anyone experienced this? If you do sometimes clench your jaws, do you have symptoms like this? I've been though a few different types of stress lately so am wondering if this is actually what is going on. My sinuses seem fine... If this is the problem, it actually makes sense that it is only affecting one side - there are differences between the two.

[OakLeaf]

Ouch.

I do tend to brux - there are a lot of contributing factors. Stress is definitely in there, my weird bite is part of it, and a lot of it is also the muscles of the neck that interact with the chewing muscles. I'd be surprised if your neck injury didn't contribute to it. Maybe your dentist can refer you to a massage therapist who works inside the mouth. Or you can poke around the insides of your jaw muscles with your own index finger for trigger points, as my LMT taught me to do. It's pretty painful, but worth it.

[Catrin]

Ouch.

I do tend to brux - there are a lot of contributing factors. Stress is definitely in there, my weird bite is part of it, and a lot of it is also the muscles of the neck that interact with the chewing muscles. I'd be surprised if your neck injury didn't contribute to it. Maybe your dentist can refer you to a massage therapist who works inside the mouth. Or you can poke around the insides of your jaw muscles with your own index finger for trigger points, as my LMT taught me to do. It's pretty painful, but worth it.

hmmm, I didn't think about the neck injury. It is true that this never happened before the whiplash injury. My next dental appointment is in early January and I will ask her about this.
"brux"? I will look that up, and I do have a bad overbite.

[Melalvai]

I clench. I've had TMJ. What has worked for me is the night guard the dentist made, and more recently, osteopathic treatment was surprisingly effective.

[Catrin]

I clench. I've had TMJ. What has worked for me is the night guard the dentist made, and more recently, osteopathic treatment was surprisingly effective.

hmmmm, my PCP is an osteopath, I will see him in Jan when my flexible spending account kicks in for the new year. My insurance won't cover OMT, but it is very good to know that this was effective. I don't THINK I have TMJ, I don't have any of the common symptoms.

[indysteel]

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out TMJ (actually TMD is the better term). You do have one of the signs of it--teeth clinching--and you've experienced one of things that can cause it--whiplash.

[ny biker]

Interesting. I posted a long response to this yesterday and it is not showing up here. That's not the first time this has happened recently.

[Catrin]

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out TMJ (actually TMD is the better term). You do have one of the signs of it--teeth clinching--and you've experienced one of things that can cause it--whiplash.

Hmmmm, frankly I hadn't even considered this. I will look into it, thanks for mentioning this. What I described above may not happen often, but I need a resolution.

[Catrin]

Interesting. I posted a long response to this yesterday and it is not showing up here. That's not the first time this has happened recently.

I've also noted this, for some reason it is always the posts that I put the most time into that go walk-about.

[badger]

oh boy, do I ever know about clenching... I never thought about whiplash/neck injury as part of a cause, though, because my C1 is twisted due to what I believe to be a pretty nasty forceps delivery.

I've just spent close to $3000 on dental work in the past month; in the last 20 years I've probably spent over $10000 due to my excessive clenching (and yes, this is with a super fancy "balanced" nightguard that cost a grand and was supposed to help with headaches and clenching but nada).

My dentist suggest botox injections to relax my jaw muscles and the insurance company actually approved it, but it's only a temporary fix and not being able to chew normally scared me. It's temporary but it's still a few months if I don't like it.

My friend who is a dentist says counseling helps, that it's something from the subconscious. I resisted this, but the neck injury theory does sound plausible. I've done cranial sacral massage/osteopathy recently due to the excessive dental work I'm going through right now; she said my jaws were completely locked up and I was getting horrifying headaches that no pain medication helped.

Sorry this is more of my own woes and rant rather than helpful advice. I guess in the end, I'm a total pro at clenching my teeth, but aside from slowing the rate of breaking my teeth I haven't done a whole lot to address it. I'll be curious to find out if you'll come across a treatment that will help.

[Catrin]

I am finally recovered from the last episode, it seems to take a few days for my muscles to fully relax and for a few days I have to consciously prevent my jaws from clenching. While I am going to see both my dentist and my OD in January about this, before then I am going to be more intentional about a relaxing routine before bed. I already turn off the computer 2 hours before bed and turn off the television 1 hour prior (if it ever got turned on, many evenings it doesn't". I tend to keep busy however, sometimes up until when I go to bed. So, perhaps an enforced time of reading and gentle stretching is called for here. I've already put blackout curtains in my bedroom, and I cover the light on my alarm clock so my room is as dark as possible.

[OakLeaf]

You could try it, they're pretty inexpensive, but my experience as well as most of what I read is that OTC night guards (like dentist made ones that aren't adjusted often enough) actually encourage bruxing and clenching, by throwing your bite off and inserting something "chewy" that responds to movement. The dentist-made ones are hard resin so the muscles "know" to back off when they encounter it.

[indysteel]

You could try it, they're pretty inexpensive, but my experience as well as most of what I read is that OTC night guards (like dentist made ones that aren't adjusted often enough) actually encourage bruxing and clenching, by throwing your bite off and inserting something "chewy" that responds to movement. The dentist-made ones are hard resin so the muscles "know" to back off when they encounter it.

This. I wouldn't use an OTC product without at least first talking to your dentist.

[ny biker]

[QUOTE=OakLeaf;663297]You could try it, they're pretty inexpensive, but my experience as well as most of what I read is that OTC night guards (like dentist made ones that aren't adjusted often enough) actually encourage bruxing and clenching, by throwing your bite off and inserting something "chewy" that responds to movement. The dentist-made ones are hard resin so the muscles "know" to back off when they encounter it.[/QUOTE ]

Unless they are my muscles, in which case they just bite down harder, dig ridges into the plastic and cause a gap between my lower front teeth.

[OakLeaf]

Nothing's going to work for everyone for sure, but I wonder if you just weren't getting yours adjusted often enough. Part of the reason I gave up on mine is that it needed adjustment about every two weeks. If I let it get out of adjustment, it caused more problems than it solved. I was just spending way too much time at the dentist for the amount of relief it was giving me.

[Catrin]

I've called my dentist and am seeing them Wednesday morning about this after determining my insurance will cover the exam and any possible x-rays. Hopefully they will have an idea, my next step will be my OD if they can't solve it.

[Catrin]

I saw my dentist today and she didn't even bother to take an x-ray after checking my mouth out. Apparently my symptoms are classic for clenching or grinding, and she thinks the whiplash altered my alignment just a bit - just enough to cause a problem. I've a significant overbite and she is actually surprised that it never occurred prior to my injury. Anyway, she recommends I try the inexpensive mouth-guard version from the store and if that causes a problem we will discuss a true custom hard version.

Apparently this can present with either muscular problems, dental pain, or both. In my case it is purely dental, I don't know if that is a blessing or not... Anyway, at least I now know what is going on, and that is a relief.

[Crankin]

Catrin, a couple of years ago I was having neck, jaw, and headache pain. I ended up going to a MacKenzie PT, who "cured" me. I did most of the work at home, with exercises she gave me.
I have developed a case of this again, from my stupid accident a couple of weeks ago. I definitely had symptoms of whiplash on the opposite side of my body, so I started doing the exercises again and it is much better. It was bad enough that it interfered a bit when riding, so I had to put a stop to it.

[Catrin]

Catrin, a couple of years ago I was having neck, jaw, and headache pain. I ended up going to a MacKenzie PT, who "cured" me. I did most of the work at home, with exercises she gave me.
I have developed a case of this again, from my stupid accident a couple of weeks ago. I definitely had symptoms of whiplash on the opposite side of my body, so I started doing the exercises again and it is much better. It was bad enough that it interfered a bit when riding, so I had to put a stop to it.

Sorry to hear that you tweaked your whiplash, decidedly un-fun :( I still do my exercises from time to time when I get neck pain - the headaches have been gone since I get the injections last December. The scalenes on my right side STILL get tight and painful...

Apparently the teeth clenching is due to the initial whiplash injury changing my bite just a tiny bit - but enough. Between that and my overbite my rear teeth are, apparently, now in perfect alignment for clenching/grinding when I am under stress. Nothing can be done for the alignment problem outside of braces - and I am not going there. So, I guess it is finally time for me to learn more relaxation techniques before bed and to try out one of those soft guards. Apparently it is only when I am sleeping when I clench hard enough to cause the problem...

[Crankin]

I seem to go through periods of clenching, but it hasn't happened in a long time. I did have Invisalign (second time for braces) in 2005-07, so I think my bite is much better now.

[Catrin]

I seem to go through periods of clenching, but it hasn't happened in a long time. I did have Invisalign (second time for braces) in 2005-07, so I think my bite is much better now.

Glad to hear it worked for you! Thankfully this has only happened 3 times in the last year, so I have pretty good hopes that learning more robust relaxation techniques will go far to help me. I am only aware of doing it while awake for a couple of days after a night-time event. Apparently the clenching is bad enough to aggravate all of the nerves in that portion of my mouth which is why touching my teeth when it wakes me up increases the intensity of the pain so much. Ugh.

I've had dentists over the years insist that I really need braces, and I do, but it is just too expensive and I've read/heard of too many experiences that other 50+ year old people have had with the process. I can still eat and that is what matters...

[ACG]

I am currently undergoing treatment for this with my dentist. I grind my teeth because I'm too high strung. It stopped when I got my divorce but recently started up again. I broke 2 filings and had to have 1 tooth capped. I've never had a neck injury.

One dentist suggested that because of my severe sinus/allergies was part of the cause, he said not all of it.

I have a night guard. It is me, I do worry and don't show it, so I grind my teeth. Sometimes during they day I find myself doing it too.

You are not alone, hope you find a good solution.

[tulip]

I grind my teeth while I sleep, too. I use a night guard, which I've had for over six years and it's still fine. The dentist just checked it this week. When I do yoga or meditate regularly, I find that I grind less. Looks like it's time to make that a habit again.