do you grind your teeth when you sleep?

United States
December 7, 2006 9:59pm CST
I have ever since i was a wee lass. Last night i was grinding my teeth in my sleep so bad i was having dreams that my teeth fell out and were shattering. It really sucked. I used to have this little plastic thing i wore to help keep myself from doing it, it just fit over my top teeth, but i lost it over the years. I was told eating something like a carrot before you go to bed can help tire out your jaw so you don't do it. Anyone else have any experience with this?
4 people like this
91 responses
@annihilus (2181)
• Italy
8 Dec 06
no, when I sleep I don't grind my teeth.
2 people like this
@Bbilal (1998)
8 Dec 06
Grind teeth - grind
Not regularly, but I do.
2 people like this
@lila11 (15)
• United States
8 Dec 06
Oh, by the way, that plastic thing you wore was a night guard. However, night guards can be expensive to buy, so what I did is I went to a sports store and bought a sports guard (that things you see boxers and football players wearing in thier mouth). These serve the same purpose and are a lot cheaper than night guards. Plus you can even put them in warm water when you first buy them (this softens it up a bit) and then you can put it in your mouth to form on your teeth; this way every time you wear it, it will fit just right. Hope this helped a bit......By the way, are you stressed out a lot? Grinding can come from being stressed, and dont drink anything caffenated before you sleep (thats not gonna help)
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
The thing i had wasn't a nightguard, but it served the same purpose sort of. It was my snap in retainer (no metal) from after i had my braces taken off after high school. I had braces for almost 7 years and i had a clear retainer that covered my teeth for a year or so after that to keep them in line. I had a smaller plastic and metal one for the bottom teeth.
@lila11 (15)
• United States
8 Dec 06
I am a compulsive grinder. I have been wearing a night guard on and off since I was 9 years old; I am now 23. My mother and father are both 51 years old and they also wear night guards. According to my dentist, my teeth are in worse condition than my parents; I have grinded straight through the layer of enamel on my teeth.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
I need to go see a dentist and see about getting a new nightguard, i'm worried about damaging mine as well. :( I know they have gotten to where they very easily will slide across each other from side to side if i move my jaw.
• United States
8 Dec 06
No, but i sometimes drool in my sleep.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
hahaha.. i'm guilty of that sometimes as well. XD
@timuss (474)
• India
8 Dec 06
i do face this problem :) it is really nightmare to experience it isnt it??/ well for sometime i m nt experiencin it :) whts ur frequency? mine is once in a two week
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
It's probaly about the same for me, i think it's only once or twice a week max. Sometimes i'll go quite a while without doing it.
• United States
8 Dec 06
I don't grind my teeth in my sleep, but I have had dreams where I am losing my teeth. That always freaks me out. I can feel them falling out and I keep touching the holes with my toungue, aghhh, awful!
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
Eww... that's actually almost exactly what was going on in my dream.. i could feel the holes with my tongue. :(
• Netherlands
8 Dec 06
I do not do this but my boyfriend sure does. The problem is is that he is convinced that I am trying to fool him when in fact he does it nearly every night and it keeps me up sometimes.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
Yeah i do that too and a dream about my teeth falling out all the time!!! Usually it is about a tooth just crumbling away and then all the others fall out like the domino effect, and i wake up freaked out, lol!!! I really hate those dreams, you don't even know how much!!!
• United States
8 Dec 06
I have a hard time going back to sleep after dreams like that. :(
@rosey2006 (945)
• United States
8 Dec 06
The dentist told me that I really grind my teeth at night. I have never noticed it before.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
My orthodontist back in high school could tell with me.. My teeth slide across each other very smoothy in the back. I really wish i didn't do that. My boyfriend will wake me up or give me a nudge to get me to stop. :(
• Philippines
8 Dec 06
That is called bruxism and people don't know why it occurs specially during sleep. You mentioned that you have a "little plastic thing", I think they're called nightguards and they are the most convenient way of dealing with bruxism although wearing them won't actually cure you. If you have someone beside you while your sleeping, ask them to wake you up if they hear you brux... that should somehow help your teeth from grinding themselves to nothing. Hope that helps
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
I tell him to do that heh.. he's worried about bothering me while i'm sleeping, i told him if i'm doing that i'm not sleeping all that sound. Hopefully he'll go ahead and gimme a good shake, i don't mind. I would rather be woken up briefly than, wake myself up by grinding so bad. I'm pretty sure mine is stress related, whenever i worry or stress it picks WAY up.
@drumm1n (499)
• India
8 Dec 06
yup..evryone usually grinds their teeth while sleeping! theres one more thing i do when i sleep!:P i sometimes sleep with my eyes open!:D how cool is that! evryone gets really freaked out!
1 person likes this
@sylviekitty (2083)
• United States
8 Dec 06
my husband and his twin sister both grind their teeth really bad in their sleep. she wears a mouth guard now, but my husband does not. he really needs to, because the sound is horrible. i kick him when he does it to make him stop. i have not heard about the carrot trick, but part of me doubts that it would work. i suppose it doesn't hurt to try?
• Canada
8 Dec 06
Wow... I used to grind my teeth a lot when I was young, but I apparently don't do it as much now, at least people seem to act suprised when they tell me "you were grinding your teeth last night!" Gee thanks for the wake up call then lol... I would love to stay sleeping when you could wake me up and maybe save some of my teeth from grinding to nothing lol... It's kind of funny, when I was little, I used to like that I grinded my teeth, because I thought that would get rid of my cavities... Oh I love the delusions of childhood. If only something like that would really work! Anyway, the dentist never gave me a nightguard to wear for grinding my teeth, but later on, when my jaw joints got all messed up and I got TMJ then they decided to give me one, but it just made things worse because I clenched down on it creating some nasty bite marks in the plastic. That ended up making my jaw lock by the morning most mornings, so I stopped wearing it. I too have those dreams were my teach are shattering and falling out. They are terrifying and I absolutely hate them. But ever so often, I freak myself out enough that I wake up shaking and scared, and then have to watch some tv or something to calm myself down before going back to bed. I hate nightmares. I've never heard about the eating carrots before bed to tire out the jaw thing. That's an interesting thought, it could work! Have you ever tried it?
• United States
8 Dec 06
I did in the past, seemed to work, of course i was asleep so i couldn't really tell. I seem to remember not feeling as tired in my jaw as i did before.
• United States
8 Dec 06
Holy cow! I thought I was the only one that dreamed of my teeth shattering and falling out. Those are creepy dreams. I do grind my teeth. Well more like I clench my jaw at night. I wake up and my mouth hurts so bad I can't chew. Or, worse, my jaw gets dislocated. If you have never had a dislocated jaw be very, very happy. It hurts like crazy when you try to eat. So far the only thing I have ever done that worked was keep my tongue between me teeth. For some reason, for me, it keeps me from locking my jaw. Eventually I fall asleep and my tongue goes back to normal. I worry that I might bight to hard when I am half asleep but so far that hasn't happened. Good luck finding something that works for you.
1 person likes this
@tammytwo (4298)
• United States
8 Dec 06
Yes, I do occasionally. I can tell when I wake up.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Dec 06
I do on occasion but not as severe as you are describing. I would consider getting a new mouth guard if I where you. You could really do some damage to your teeth.
1 person likes this
@ljmc24 (413)
• United States
8 Dec 06
I do sometimes, but my husband does it so loud he wakes me up. He has worn his teeth down so bad from doing it he needs several thousands in dental work.
1 person likes this
@arafin (292)
• Bangladesh
8 Dec 06
no, i still don't have that habbit. praying to allah so that it can never happen to me. it's odd i think but simultaneously its not the fault of the person too.
@xsle84 (99)
• Philippines
8 Dec 06
Tooth grinding does not always lead to harm. If you do it rarely, then it may have no effect. But if you do it often, it can become serious, causing broad damage to the jaw that may require surgery. It can also, in its most severe instances, cause hearing loss. So if you begin to experience regular headaches and notice a wearing of the teeth, go see your dentist. This condition may grind away out of mind, but if allowed to persist unabated, it won't be out of sight for too long. The chalky, often squeaking, sound of tooth grinding can warn your partner to your problem, even while you stay asleep and unconscious. Other tell-tale signs include tooth wear, headaches, sensitive teeth, and fatigue and pain in the muscles of the face. Tooth grinding, called bruxism, is a situation with a variety of causes. Stress, calcium deficiency, pinworms, and an abnormal bite are all causes of tooth grinding. If your bruxing is caused by stress, it can be easily cured by relaxation techniques and cutting down on things like coffee and soda. However, if it is caused by any of the latter, it is best to consult a dentist for treatment. Since multiple factors can contribute to bruxism, you should see your dentist at the first realization of tooth grinding as neglecting it can lead to more serious problems, such as hearing loss.
1 person likes this