Nocturnal teeth grinding needs to be addressed

The common habit of grinding the teeth — bruxism — while asleep can have wide-ranging health consequences, according to Thomas Wolf, a leading German dentist.

“The teeth are worn down, and the relief patterns on the crowns of the teeth go,” says Wolf of the Free Association of German Dentists based in Bonn.

This exposes the dentine, contains nerve endings.

As a result the increasingly sensitive.

“The more you grind or bite hard, the closer you get to the nerve,” he says.

In extreme cases, the jaw bones are affected, and the teeth can become loose and even fall out or crumble.

Christine Vogel has been struggling with the problem for 20 years.”I frequently wake up in the morning with stiff jaws and a stiff neck and often with headaches.” The unconscious grinding is as unpleasant for partners as running nails down a blackboard. While some grind, others bite, pressing the teeth hard against each other.

Pushing the tongue up against the teeth, and sucking in the cheeks and biting the inside of the mouth are similar unhealthy nocturnal habits.

All of this takes place with enormous force, with the result that the facial muscles, particularly the jaw muscles, stiffen.

This process also involves the back of the neck, through the shoulders and down to the back.

“Jaw muscles are among the most powerful in the body,” German physiotherapist Dagmar Schlaubitz, who specialises in the phenomenon, explains. — dpa

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