Question: My son has started grinding his teeth and has to wear a mouthguard at night. What else can help him?
Answer: Teeth aren't built for the punishment of constant grinding. Common triggers are tension and anger and night-time grinding can lead to cracked teeth and headaches as well as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain.
He needs to avoid stressful thoughts, activities or TV or computer games just before bed.
If he is bothered by worries, jotting them down as a list or journal entry, and putting them aside for tomorrow may help. So can taking a long, warm bath, and covering the jaw with a flannel that's been soaked in hot water; the extra warmth will relax jaw muscles.
Teach him to practise progressive muscle relaxation before going to sleep. This entails lying in bed and tensing, then relaxing, the muscles in the feet. Repeat with calf muscles, then thigh muscles, and so on, progressively tensing and relaxing each set of muscles all the way up the body.
Avoid eating close to bedtime, as digesting food while you sleep makes you more likely to grind your teeth.
Massaging the areas around the jaw relieves muscle tightness and enhances blood flow.
Several times a day, he can open his mouth and rub the muscles by the ears near the TM joints.
Also, with a clean forefinger, try reaching into his mouth until you can feel the sore muscles: press firmly with your forefinger, massage one side, then the other, getting as close to the joints as you can.
You could try giving him extra calcium and magnesium, in a two-to-one ratio: these minerals help the jaw muscles to relax, especially at night.
If the condition persists, investigate natural bodywork therapies: chiropractic manipulation of the TM joint has been shown to be useful in correcting pain and dysfunction, as have clinical biofeedback, acupuncture, and low frequency TENS (transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation) machines, which stimulate particular facial nerves and allow the jaw to relax in its natural position.
Other helpful tips include avoiding extremely crunchy or chewy foods; cutting food into smaller pieces; avoiding caffeinated drinks (caffeine increases muscle tension); not chewing pencils, ice, gum, or nails; sleeping on his side (stomach-sleeping, head turned to one side, produces neck strain that's transferred to the jaw); and using a backpack with two straps, rather than slinging it over one shoulder, which throws the spine and neck out of alignment.
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