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Most teeth grinding and clenching happens at night while you sleep — which is why it’s classed as a sleep disorder. Left unchecked it wears down teeth, strains the jaw and triggers headaches. Here’s why it happens, and how we treat the cause.
Muscles Loaded by Clenching
What is bruxism?
Clenching vs grinding
Why it happens
How we diagnose
How we treat
The basics
Bruxism is characterised by repetitive jaw-muscle activity involving clenching or grinding of the teeth. It may occur during sleep or while awake, and its causes are often multifactorial. Because it generally happens at night — while you’re asleep and completely unaware of it — it has been classified as a sleep disorder rather than a simple habit.
The constant, unconscious force it places on your teeth, muscles and jaw joints is what causes the damage. Over time that shows up as worn or broken teeth, facial pain, headaches and jaw problems — together known as TMD (temporomandibular joint dysfunction).
The jaw joint affected by bruxism
Two distinct actions
Bruxism covers two different movements. Many people do both — often without ever realising it.
Clenching
Clamping your top and bottom teeth firmly together — most often the back teeth, though it happens with the front teeth too. This constant pressure loads the muscles and joints around the jaw, leading to headaches, earaches, jaw soreness and tooth damage.
Grinding
Sliding the teeth from side to side while asleep. It’s common among people who also clench, and it gradually wears the teeth down. Grinding can be loud enough to disturb a bed partner, and over time damages the jaw joint and muscles.
Understanding the cause
People clench, grind or both because of increased stimulation from the brain and spinal cord — the central nervous system. That heightened signal is usually driven by one or more of the following.
01
A painful nerve, an inflamed or compressed spinal disc, or an arthritic hip — ongoing pain anywhere in the body keeps the nervous system on high alert.
02
03
04
When key nutrients sit below — or at the low end of — the normal range, the muscles and nervous system are more easily triggered.
In many people it’s a combination of two or more of these — which is why treating a single factor in isolation rarely resolves it.
Self-recognition
You may have just one of these, or several. Recognising even a few is worth a conversation.
The enamel wears down until you see the second, darker layer of the tooth.
Cracks, chips and fractures from the sheer force of clenching.
The bigger picture
Your chewing muscles work in balance with the muscles at the front and back of your neck. Their tone and activity are set by signals from the brain and spinal cord. When pain, breathing dysfunction or anxiety raise that signal, you clench and grind — and over time it breaks down the toughest joint in the body.
Bruxism & headaches
Yes. Migraine, cluster, hypnic and morning tension headaches — in both adults and children — are related to sleep apnoea and disturbed sleep. When the muscles are overworked and the airway compromised, headaches follow.
Because bruxism is a subconscious activity, most people are completely unaware it’s happening. It also worsens when you sleep on your back — the same position that aggravates sleep apnoea.
Muscles that become tender during bruxism
of patients with night-time bruxism also experience headaches.
Our process
Bruxism can be identified by a dentist through a careful examination — and, where the signs point to it, a sleep assessment.
01
We look for the tell-tale signs — bony growths on the sides of the lower jaw, a scalloped tongue, worn-down teeth, and fractured or broken-down teeth.
02
If there are signs and symptoms of a sleep disorder, a sleep study is warranted to determine whether disordered breathing is driving the grinding.
Our integrated approach
The basic principle is simple: treat the cause first, then protect the teeth and jaw while the body heals.
Chronic Pain
Addressing ongoing pain elsewhere in the body that keeps the nervous system over-stimulated.
Breathing & Sleep Disorders
Restoring proper breathing and treating sleep apnoea, a major driver of night-time grinding.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Correcting low nutrient levels — including magnesium, a natural muscle relaxant.
Anxiety & Stress
Working on the emotional load that raises muscle tension and feeds clenching.
Night Splint
A custom splint worn while you sleep to protect the teeth and absorb the force of grinding.
Breathing Splint
Where bruxism is driven by breathing or a sleep disorder, a splint designed to maximise proper breathing through the night.
Day Splint
For daytime clenching, the splint can be worn during the day as well when necessary.
Take the first step
Book a consultation with Dr Manish Shah to assess your bruxism, protect your teeth and treat the cause — not just the symptom.
Suite 403, 307 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000
