Teeth Grinding Condition can be diagnosed by a seattle dentist.
"Teeth Grinding is a movement disorder characterized by grinding or clenching of the teeth during sleep" says a cosmetic dentist or Seattle dentist. This disorder has also been identified as nocturnal bruxism, nocturnal tooth-grinding and nocturnal tooth-clenching.
What are the Symptoms?
The symptoms of nocturnal bruxism may be:
- Sensitivity to sounds (like nails on a chalk board).
- Jaw muscle discomfort; which may cause extreme headaches.
- Abnormal wear of the teeth; teeth will be ground down.
How serious is the disorder?
When someone with suspected sleep bruxism has a polysomnographic test done, the dentist is able to see if there is jaw muscle activity during the sleep period and the absence of normal movement during sleep. Other sleep disorders may be present at the same time, e.g., obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome.
Some people have episodes that occur more frequently than nightly with no evidence of dental injury or impairment of psychosocial functioning. While others experience nightly episodes with evidence of mild impairment of psychosocial functioning. Yet others have nightly episodes with evidence of dental injury, tempomandibular (jaw) disorders, other physical injury or moderate or severe impairment of psychosocial functioning.
Damage to the teeth needs to be stopped!! Pain and injury to the jaw may require surgery.
How is it treated?
If the damage is not extensive, your seattle dentist or Bellevue dentist is able to make you a mouthguard that fits over you lower set of teeth and prevents the top teeth from grinding away at them.