Treating Bruxism during Sleep

[Ravyn]

Hi,
I've ground my teeth in my sleep for most of my life (I'm 21) and also suffer from anxiety and depression. Lately my nightly grinding has gotten much worse. When I moved in with my boyfriend a few months ago I would often wake him up from the sound, so I bought an OTC mouth guard, the kind that you microwave and then bite to form. After a couple weeks wearing it I noticed that my front teeth hurt when I woke up in the mornings. I stopped wearing it after about a month and a half and bought a more expensive OTC guard that adjusts to fit different mouth sizes and only sits on my back teeth. Now after wearing that one for a couple months I'm noticing my back teeth hurting in the morning and being tender throughout the day, enough to make eating uncomfortable. I also noticed that I have bitten the guard hard enough that small chunks of the plastic are coming off. This seems very extreme for a guard claiming to last 6 months.

So my question is, do I just need to replace the guards more often than most people or is this something abnormal? Is my Bruxism severe enough to warrant some other kind of treatment, and if so what should I do?

Thanks for any advice

 

[svor1988]

Teeth grinding is a common drug side effect. I'm going to assume a doctor somewhere put you on drugs. I forget which antidepressants commonly cause night teeth grinding. I read something about the drug keeps the brain from falling asleep. While awake with your fingers stretched out and relaxed to they jitter? Does your jaw jitter and feel tired? Look up the common side effects for the drugs you're taking.

For your health and your teeth's, consider either lowering your dosage, changing to alternative drugs, or cease seeing psychiatrists and go see a therapist/psychologist instead. Or whatever alternative treatment you find suitable.
If you insist on a psychiatrist for whatever reason, refuse anything that causes physical dependency. That is my grave warning to you.