It is driving me nuts. How do I stop?

I’m doing it in my sleep now and wake up with a saw jaw, probably from the grinding but mostly from the wife punching me because it keeps her awake.

I think your dentist can give you a guard to stop you doing it. Having a saw jaw sounds handy though

It’s called Bruxism, potentially linked to stress and anxiety. I started doing it about a year ago during a really stressful period and haven’t shifted it since.
Edit: The guard didn’t work with me, it protected my teeth a bit, but made my jaw ache even more

Internet dentist says this about guards though

https://askthedentist.com/night-guard-for-grinding/

I’m doing it in my sleep now and wake up with a saw jaw

You are Skeletor’s most trusted henchman and I claim my five pounds.

Teeth grinder here, never noticed a sore jaw though. I got a moulded guard from the dentist and Mrs G said it was worse cause it squeaked instead!

Back to no guard now.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH_yivWallk[/video]

my wife got the guard and it helped with the sore jaw as it means the teeth can just slide over each other.
She just used a whitening guard that she already had (and had never used)

How do I stop?

Stay off the amphetamines and mdma for a while? 🙂

Seriously though, sounds horrible. My – probably stress related – horrible habit involves picking away at the cuticles on my finger nails and plucking my eyebrows. Drives Mrs Daz crazy.

If you go the guard route, I got one of these which involves doing the moulding yourself and costs £50;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005D4I4E2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

…rather than the over £200 the dentist wanted.

Stress is a factor. Also alcohol and caffeine (for me). I cut out the last two. Guards work but are expensive and not exactly enjoyable to wear. Grinding does damage your teeth and also the jaw joint so worth reducing it.

My other half does this, she also suffers with Anxiety.

Many sleepless nights for me as a result.

I grind and can get a sore jaw. Had a guard, it protected my teeth for a bit it I gound holes into it!!

I’ve heard there’s an excellent support group app called grindr that maybe you should try?

Ball gag? 😀

I am a sleep grinder, it got so bad (TMD) that I was referred to a specialist for treatment. I think this was also due to stress at work causing me to clench my teeth. I was also clenching when out on my bike and doing big efforts.
I used to wear a gum shield, but made things worse as I was chewing it during the night.
I am definitely worse after drinking alcohol.

MrsBouy grinds her teeth, been doing it since a teenager. She’s not stressed, nor anxious it’s just a “thing” she does. I can see the link to stress, but it’s not the only cause. Sometimes folks just do stuff like that, I suck my teeth and I’m not stressed either.

During a routine dentist visit about 5 years ago she was offered a guard, seems she’s been wearing down her rear teeth an bit too much. After a couple of fittings she came away with the guard, tried it for about 3months all the time before complaining about it interfering with her jaw movement and said it felt odd (as you’d expect). So it went in the bedside draw, occasionally it would come out and she’d wear it then for months at a time not.. over the last 2years she’s been wearing it on and off and it’s helping a little…

She does suffer jaw pain, both with it in and without it in. It seems not to make any difference to that aspect.

The guard wasn’t cheap, IIRC it was at least £300…

I’ve worn one for 10+ years – I used to suffer with headaches before but nothing now. After the first couple of nights you get used to them so no issues with not sleeping because of it – God knows on the sleep apnea bit if I wear my fitbit to bed it seems to think I sleep well enough so don’t think I suffer with apnea.

Try it, see how you get on with it – only pluses for me (although I was already married by the time I got it so didnt have one night stands with a mouth guard which may be a bit off putting :-))

I had a soft guard for years (moulded by the dentist), eventually put holes in it. Skip to years later and a new dentist. She said the soft ones are crap because your subconscious still gets satisfaction from the biting/grinding into the soft material. More modern ones are a solid plastic… So I now have a solid one. It’s less comfortable to put in/out, but I hardly wear it anymore because I have stopped grinding so much. Dentist said it’s common that (excluding other life factors -stress etc), with the solid one, people find that they grind less and less and can often end up not needing it for long periods. A positive experience for me as I stuff to wake up sore and uncomfortable, and occasionally, my lower front teeth would be a little loose….!

Go see dentist, but be prepared to pay.

Another grinder here. I have one of the guards done by the dentist and it helps a lot. Cost about £100 at a dentist in Alderley Edge so I’m assuming they’re normally a tenner.