You're sound asleep, pleasant dreams dancing across your subconscious. You snuggle down into your pillow -- and suddenly you're awakened by a horrible sound. Your spouse or roommate or child is grinding his/her teeth.
What an irritating sound. As bad as fingernails scratching across the black board. And far more dangerous.
This is nocturnal bruxism - grinding of the teeth in the night - and it can have far-reaching implications, like loosening and loss of teeth.
It can also cause another condition - temporomandibular joint disease (TMJ.) TMJ occurs when the muscles, joints and ligaments of the jaw move out of alignment. Symptoms of this are headache, earache and pain in the face, neck or shoulder.
Almost everyone grinds the teeth at sometime during his life, but in about 8% of the population, this disorder occurs weekly or even oftener. It can cause daytime sleepiness and stress.
Why am I writing about a dental problem in a sleep disorders article? Bruxism is listed in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD.) In fact, the ICSD suggests that bruxism is the third most common form of sleep disorder right behind sleep talking and snoring.
Bruxism is also closely associated with other sleep disorders. Research has discovered that people who brux are more likely to snore, suffer from breathing pauses during sleep and be victims of sleep apnea.
As is the case in many sleeping problems, stress is a major cause of bruxism. Even during the day, it's not unusual to clench or grind the teeth when angry or nervous. The use of tobacco, alcohol or caffeine tends to aggravate the problem.
It's a disorder that can affect people of all ages, men and women. It does seem to decrease with age, and the worst cases occur in the 19 to 44 year age group.
