Taking A Bite Out of Bruxism

Have you ever seen a snake take in a tasty meal; the jaw looks like it becomes unhinged to take in the morsel. The snake’s jaw can’t really unhinge, but it does have an amazing ability to open wide, due to its tendons, not a surreal unhinging of the jaw. Looks wild though, right!? Ok, so what does that have to do with my headline about TMJ? I woke up one morning barely able to open my mouth enough to sip coffee and the thought of a snake came to mind. Do snakes ever suffer jaw pain?

Mouths Wide Shut
The temporomandibular (tem-puh-roe-man-DIB-u-lur) joint is where we experience pain when we grind our teeth or clench our jaws (aka, bruxism) when we sleep. It’s really the opposite of what a snake can do…

Teeth grinding is caused by a number of things, including stress. During our dream cycles, we are working out our previous day, month, and year in some cases. Dreams help us make sense of our experiences and sometimes the jaws and teeth get into the act. Over time it can cause pain and a literal grinding down of our pearly whites.

What the Numbers Show
I’m surprised by the number of people who I run into who also have this experience and yet, the the prevalence of TMJ muscle disorder (TMJD) is only between 5% and 12% people in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It’s twice as common in women than men. I won’t delve into all the stress-related or structural reasons why people experience TMJD, but I can talk about my personal experience. Like a lot of people, I internalize stress and it affects my sleep. I went to my dentist to see if they could help and I was fitted for a mouth guard. I thought that would solve my issue along with muscle relaxers and a four-week visit to acupuncture practitioner who I know and trust. This trifecta helped me a lot for a while. I would have returned to acupuncture, which has benefited me a lot for other ailments, but it is not covered by my insurance. And then my mouth guard developed legs.

A few months in, after I had completed acupuncture and stopped the muscle relaxers, during my deep sleep, I took out the mouth guard and placed it under my pillow. In the morning I completely forgot all about taking out the mouth guard and started looking for it. It cost a lot of money, even with insurance! And low and behold, it was under the pillow, every single time. Since then I gave up on the mouth guard but I found another tool in my arsenal, physical therapy.

In my latest podcast , I talk with someone who has helped me tremendously with my bout of jaw pain and I can say that I’m currently pain-free, have full mobility of my jaw, and am practicing the exercises I was given to do on an ongoing basis or when I have a flare up.

Seek Help
Everyone’s experience is different, and I’m not doling out medical advice, so please see your doctor/dentists/therapist to seek out underlying causes of jaw pain or stress before jumping into a treatment plan.