For several years, the economy has been in a downward spiral, and there is no change in sight. Adults are dealing with increased stress from dealing with hard financial decisions. Your body sometimes reacts to stress in ways that you don’t even know about.
For example, teeth grinding, also known by its medical name, bruxism, is a symptom of stress that you may not even be aware of because it happens while you’re asleep. The cause of bruxism isn’t known, despite the research that has been conducted into its origins. What these studies do conclude is that stress is a significant factor.
With the stress levels so high across the country, bruxism should be more of a problem than ever before. People are living everyday not knowing what the next one will bring and so many people are worried about their future. This means more and more people might be grinding their teeth and doing long-term damage to them. Surely trips to the dentist are up everywhere.
Since people grind their teeth while they are sleeping, it becomes a large problem. Most people don’t even know they are doing it, and often years go by before the damage is noticed. Dentists, who are trained to see even the slightest changes in your teeth, usually catch the problem during an appointment.
Wearing a mouth guard at night is one way to prevent bruxism. Dentists will fit one just for you, but it is very expensive, sometimes over $500. For a non-emergency situation, not many people want to spend that much money, especially in light of the financial situation. The most common choice right now is probably a generic mouth guard that anybody can use.
In any bad economy people might cut down on their visits to the dentist as they don’t consider their teeth that important. However, for the specific case of bruxism, visits probably are way up as nighttime grinding may be at an all time high.
Do you have a problem with your children grinding teeth at night? If so, please visit my site Grinding Teeth to learn more.