BRUXISM-
TEETH DAMAGE DUE TO STRESS
HEMA VIJAY
Worn-out,
cracked or fractured teeth, jaw pain, or protracted pain during dental
procedures …. Is such damage to teeth always related to inadequate dental
hygiene and nutrition? Well, not always. In fact, dentists in the city say
that, of late, several young adults are coming to them with severely damaged
teeth. The damage had been caused by grinding the teeth due to stress at night
and clenching the jaw. This is technically referred to as ‘bruxism’.Nervous
tension and stress act as a trigger on the muscle fibres attached to the teeth
and the jaws, and this induces grinding of teeth and/or clenching of the jaws.
“Damage to the teeth can occur in a matter of months. What compounds the
problem is bruxism which is not easily noticed by the patients or even their
dentists until the former experience severe pain. Sometimes, the symptoms of
bruxism get masked by the indiscriminate use of desensitising toothpaste,” rues
Dr. S. Venkateswaran, senior dental surgeon and orthodontist. He adds, “One
young man came to me with most of the enamel on his teeth worn away.
Apparently, he had been unable to ear ice cream or drink hot coffee for a
month, and had tried to manage the situation by using desensitising
toothpaste.”
“Not just working adults, I encounter many
high school and higher secondary school students coming with a range of
symptoms, which turn out to be a consequence of stress-induced night-grinding
of teeth. This was unheard of earlier,” says Dr. M. B. Aswath Narayanan,
professor and head, Public Health Dentistry, Tamil Nadu Government Dental
College. “Many parents don’t even realise their children are under stress
caused by academic or other pressures because the children did not display any
outward signs of stress. Some parents also wrongly attribute worm infestation
as the cause of bruxism and try to treat it on their own. Parents should spend
more time with children to understand them,” he adds.Obviously, life is
stressful for most of us. We should learn to handle this stress. While
psychological help can help us come to terms with the challenges in our lives,
breathing exercises done in a lying down posture just before sleeping can calm
us and give us peaceful sleep, which, in turn, would help avoid bruxism. Some
breathing exercises are specifically intended to alert our minds, so it is best
to learn exercises that enable one to calm down from a trained yoga teacher. A
relaxing walk or listening to some music just before sleeping could prove to be
de-stressing.
Dr.
Aswath strongly rejects treating bruxism with antidepressants. “That would only
make their minds dull, drowsy and unproductive. Yoga is best,” he recommends.Using
dental splints at night help protect the enamel from wearing away, even if an
individual were to grind his teeth. Pliable cap splints that don’t even feel
foreign, are now available. If damage to the teeth has been caused by
mal-aligned jaws and teeth, corrective treatment has to be done to prevent
further damage. As for the damage already suffered, restorative treatment in
the form of fillings or root canal followed by putting in a crown, has to be
done depending on the degree of enamel loss.
Prof. John Kurakar
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