Did you know that today (March 17th) is World Sleep Day? This is an annual event intended to be a celebration of sleep\u00a0 and to raise awareness of issues that can impair and have an impact on\u00a0sleep.<\/p>\n
Sleep bruxism<\/strong>, also known as nocturnal tooth grinding, is the medical term for clenching or grinding teeth during sleep. People sometimes grind their teeth without it causing any symptoms or problems. But regular, persistent teeth grinding can cause jaw pain and discomfort and wear down your teeth. It can also cause\u00a0headaches\u00a0and earache. Most cases of\u00a0teeth grinding\u00a0(nearly 80%) occur subconsciously during sleep. It’s usually associated with contributing\u00a0factors,\u00a0such as\u00a0stress or anxiety.<\/p>\n Bruxism almost always occurs in association with other factors. About\u00a070% of bruxism cases that\u00a0occur during sleep\u00a0are thought\u00a0be related to\u00a0stress and\u00a0anxiety.<\/p>\n There’s also an association between bruxism and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). OSA is a\u00a0sleep disorder where\u00a0your breathing is interrupted during sleep.\u00a0How bruxism and OSA affect each other isn’t\u00a0currently fully understood.<\/p>\n Teeth grinding\u00a0can also be caused by taking antipsychotic and antidepressant medication, particularly a type of antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).<\/p>\n Your lifestyle can also have an effect. For example, regularly drinking alcohol, smoking and using recreational drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine increases your risk of bruxism.<\/p>\n Treating bruxism<\/strong><\/p>\n Behavioural therapies and the use of mouth guards or mouth splints can be effective in managing the symptoms associated with bruxism.<\/p>\n Mouth guards and mouth splints work\u00a0by reducing the sensation of clenching or grinding teeth, and also help prevent any wear or\u00a0damage\u00a0on the teeth.<\/p>\n Other treatments, such as muscle-relaxation exercises and sleep hygiene, may also help manage your symptoms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you would like help and advice with the problem of sleep bruxism, our dentists here at Woodcock Lane Dental Care can help. Contact reception on 01453 828327 and we will be delighted to arrange a consultation for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that today (March 17th) is World Sleep Day? This is an annual event intended to be a celebration of sleep\u00a0 and to raise awareness of issues that can impair and have an impact on\u00a0sleep. Sleep bruxism, also known as nocturnal tooth grinding, is the medical term for clenching or grinding teeth during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcocklanedentalcare.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What causes\u00a0bruxism?<\/h4>\n