Clenching teeth?

[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...