Grinding Teeth

[Duker52]

I'm sure other PALS have a problem with jaw muscles resulting in grinding teeth. Mine seems to have gotten worse lately, especially when I sleep. I'm afraid I'm going to start chipping or breaking teeth. Does anyone take a medication or use some type of appliance to help reduce the grinding? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Bill

 

[azwxman]

what a timely post,,! I've been dealing with this very issue for a couple of weeks now. Initially I was using bite guards my dentist made for me earlier this summer when I could tolerate keeping my mouth open wide and having work done without gagging. I have terrible TMJ and he thought they might help.
now here I am months later. Even the custom fit bite guards, very form fitting and low profile are too much and have me gagging.
so now I'm biting on the corner of a washcloth, it's just thick enough to keep my upper and lower teeth from banging together, hopefully preventing broken teeth and bitten cheeks and tongue,
the downside is the taste of detergent if they don't get a good rinse, terrycloth fuzz in my mouth and an increase in secretions no matter how much atropine I use. So it's not a perfect solution.
hopefully someone posts a better idea?

mark

 

[lgelb]

Bill, if you can tolerate the casting process, I would still try a night guard. Depending on which muscles are going into spasm in what pattern, you might be able to tolerate it better than Mark.

Mark, are you using BiPAP?

 

[azwxman]

Laurie,

yes, essentially 24/7

 

[affected]

The mouth guards are good, to a degree Mark noted. It's worth seeing if you can tolerate one.

Chris tried one, tolerated having it made, but even the couple of weeks later when it arrived he could not tolerate it being in his mouth.

I wish I could tell you we found a solution but we didn't. He also had TMJ which I believe was from the spasticity in his jaw. He reached a point where the biting and grinding did go away,

 

[scaredwifetx]

I have a very bad issue with teeth grinding and it got very bad after Steve's diagnosis. I shattered two teeth and had to get veneers on the front. My dentist took a cast which only took a few minutes. She had a very nice mouth piece made for my bottom teeth. It slips right on my teeth and stays there. It is a harder material. Most of them are made from plastic and are soft. I spit those out in my sleep and they are uncomfortable. I haven't had any problems since getting the guard and now I don't need to use I every night.

 

[patoyeah]

I have used mouth pieces / guards for 20 years, cheap ones from sporting good stores and some made by dentist. They all work well for me.

The cheap ones, from sporting goods stores, u put them in boiling water, then place it in your mouth to create your mold. If there r any irrating edges, cut them off w/ a knife. - Pat