Grinding and Clenching Explained
How to spot grinding and clenching, why it matters both for your teeth and for any dental work you have had done, and how a custom guard plus a few changes of habit keep the damage under control.
How Can I Tell Whether I Grind My Teeth, and What Can Be Done About It?
Grinding mostly happens while you sleep, which is why the evidence shows up in the morning: a jaw that feels stiff or sore, a dull ache across the temples, teeth that seem flatter or chipped, and bonding or fillings that repeatedly fail. Your best protection is a custom-fitted night guard, which takes the force while you sleep. Made from a digital scan, a custom night guard at Ferry Smile Studios costs £210, or £189 if you are on a dental plan.
Signs You May Be Grinding or Clenching
Bruxism, to give it its clinical name, is frequently spotted by a dentist, or by a partner, well before the person doing it has any idea. Watch for:
- A jaw that feels tight, tired or achy when you wake, or an ache a little way in front of each ear
- Morning headaches around the temples that fade as the day wears on
- Front teeth that appear shorter, flatter or more uniform than they once did, or carry tiny chips along the edges
- Cold sensitivity across several teeth, a sign of thinning enamel
- Composite bonding, fillings or crowns that fracture or loosen more often than seems reasonable
- A scalloped edge running down each side of the tongue, or a white line inside the cheek
- Clicking, a stiff jaw or difficulty opening wide first thing
- A partner who tells you they can hear you grinding during the night
Clenching is completely silent, so it slips under the radar. At every examination we inspect your teeth for wear patterns and will tell you if we spot the signs.
What Causes It
A single cause is unusual. Stress and anxiety are the biggest drivers, and a rough patch, whether at work or at home, tends to make grinding worse. Several other things play a part:
- Late-afternoon or evening caffeine, as well as alcohol and smoking
- Poor or interrupted sleep, and snoring or sleep apnoea
- Certain medicines, including some antidepressants
- Intense concentration, driving or lifting weights, any of which can trigger daytime clenching
- A bite that does not meet evenly, or a recent filling that sits a touch proud
While you sleep, the jaw muscles are capable of clamping down far harder than you would ever bite at a meal, and of holding it for far longer. That is why a few hours of overnight grinding can do damage wildly out of proportion to anything you notice.
Sore Jaw First Thing in the Morning?
Book an examination and we will check your teeth for wear and assess your jaw.
What It Does to Your Teeth and Jaw
Enamel never grows back. Year on year, grinding files the biting edges down until the softer, darker dentine underneath shows through, and that wears away faster still. Clenching focuses force onto single points, which is how cusps shear off, fillings fracture and crowns loosen. A cracked tooth may need an onlay or a crown, or root canal treatment, and now and again a crack runs down into the root, at which point the tooth is beyond saving.
Nor does the jaw escape. Muscles that are overworked produce aching cheeks and tension headaches, while the joint itself can become tender, click, or occasionally lock. If that is your main complaint, our jaw pain page sets out what we can offer. None of this happens overnight, which is precisely why it makes sense to protect your teeth before the repair bills start to mount.
How a Night Guard Helps
A custom night guard, made of durable plastic, is a slim and closely fitted shell that clips over your upper teeth, or your lower ones, overnight. It does not stop you grinding. What it does is put a buffer between the teeth, so that the wear lands on the guard instead of your enamel, and the load is shared across the whole arch instead of landing on one or two cusps. Once they have adjusted to it, many people find their jaw is less tight on waking.
Ours are made from a digital scan taken with the iTero Lumina, giving an accurate fit without any putty impressions. A custom night guard is priced at £210, and dental plan members pay £189. 1 Heavy grinders, or anyone with jaw joint symptoms, may be better served by a harder occlusal splint, from £620, and we will advise which is right for you. Our night guards page goes through the options.
The Process
- Assessment. During your examination we assess how worn your teeth are, feel the muscles and joint of the jaw, and check how your bite comes together. A high filling or an uneven contact can be smoothed off on the spot
- Scan. The iTero Lumina wand records both arches in three dimensions in a few minutes
- Fitting. Once the laboratory returns the guard, we try it in, make sure it is snug yet comfortable, and adjust it until your bite closes on it evenly
It will feel odd for the first night or two, and there may be more saliva than usual to start with. Give it a week or two and most people forget it is there. Rinse it under cold water and give it a gentle brush each morning, keep it in its case, well away from hot water and radiators, and bring it to your examinations so we can check how it is wearing. If you completed Invisalign with us and wear Vivera retainers, do tell us about any grinding, because retainers are not designed to cope with that kind of force, and a separate guard might be needed.
Everyday Habits That Help
- Lips together, teeth apart. When relaxed, your teeth should not be touching. If you notice yourself clenching during the day, let the jaw hang slightly and rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth
- Cut back on evening caffeine, and keep alcohol and cigarettes well away from bedtime
- Look after your sleep: a consistent bedtime, no screens for half an hour before, and a cool, dark bedroom
- Heat and stretching: a warm flannel over tight jaw muscles and gentle opening stretches take the edge off soreness
- Give the jaw a rest: while it is aching, steer clear of chewing gum and anything very chewy
- Deal with the stress where you can, whether that is exercise, talking it through with someone, or a breathing exercise for whenever you catch yourself tensing up
Loud snoring, or waking unrefreshed, is worth raising with your GP too, as grinding and sleep-disordered breathing frequently travel together.
Grinding and Cosmetic Dentistry
Bonding, veneers, crowns and the crowns on implants all suffer under grinding. The edges of composite are thin and prone to chipping. Porcelain is extremely hard but brittle when loaded again and again. Implants sit directly in bone with no ligament to absorb pressure, so the crowns and screws bear the full brunt. Grinding is among the most frequent reasons cosmetic work fails ahead of its time.
That is why we check for wear before starting any cosmetic treatment, and why your dentist may suggest a night guard the moment bonding, veneers or implants are finished. Where the wear pattern is severe, we will be honest that the guard is not optional. There is more depth in our guides to looking after bonding and to how long implants last.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.