Teeth Grinding(Bruxism) Can Give You A Headache

Does your wife or partner complain, every morning, about your teeth grinding or teeth clenching keeping her awake? The very fact that your wife complained about it keeping her awake made you aware about your habit. It is always the person sleeping at the side of you who will be able to tell you.
This habit of grinding and clenching the teeth is known as bruxism.

Here, people with irregular or infrequent bruxism do no get affected as much. It does not really show the damage done to the jaws and teeth. It is those who are habitual grinders who get affected. In severe cases it can also damage one’s jaw or hearing.

The question arises as to how would one know if he or she grinds or clenches their teeth? If detected how bruxism can be treated? It has been studied that some people make a noise when grinding their teeth thus making it detectable while some do not make a single sound making it hard to detect.
There are two ways one can know if they have bruxism, first is when your partner complains about it and second is when after a night’s sleep you get up with an ache in your jaws or a slight, persistent headache. Whatever the case, a checkup by the dentist is pertinent.


Consequences of teeth grinding or clenching:

There are many outcomes to teeth grinding two of which are mentioned above:

    * Severe toothache
    * Sensitive to biting food
    * Sensitive to hot or cold food
    * In advanced cases the teeth can break or result in fractures
    * Tooth loss

Precaution And Treatment

People visiting the dentist usually complain of severe toothache. To stop this toothache the very habit has to be put to an end. Otherwise there are other factors that could cause it and have to be contained:

    * Lower stress and relax daily
    * Reduce alcohol consumption and intake of caffeine
    * If grinding becomes a problem at night ask your dentist to recommend a nightguard
    * If your dentist says it is caused because of irregular bite, he would suggest teeth alignment.

How To Correctly Brush Your Teeth

How to Brush Teeth

Brushing our teeth is an everyday activity for all of us. Yet, it is staggering that quite a majority of adults do not know the correct method to properly brush their teeth leading to oral concerns in the long run including but not limited to Plaque, Calculus, Bleeding Gums, Halitosis(Bad breath), Gum diseases, Caries, Tooth discoloration.

It should be noted that most of these dental problems do not evoke any symptoms or pain until they have progressed to a relatively advanced stage. Infact, many people search on the search engines on “how to brush my dogs teeth” when they should rather be searching for “how to brush my teeth”

There have been various tooth brushing techniques suggested historically by dentists but the most accepted brushing technique is “The Bass Method”.

Here, I outline step by step the strategy for effectively brushing your teeth keeping dental problems at bay.

    * -Always use a soft bristled tooth brush, hard bristles damage your gums leading to gingival
      recession.
    * -Wet your toothbrush and take a pea amount of toothpaste.
      position12 How To Correctly Brush Your Teeth

      position1
    * -Hold the tooth brush tilted an angle of 45 degrees towards your gums. The upper teeth (Maxillary teeth) should be cleaned first. Begin at the frontal (visible) aspect of the most posterior (Back) teeth and clean the teeth 3 at a time.

position 2

    * -Use short, back and forth motions with out exerting too much pressure. Concentrate on the part of tooth which is nearer to the gums (the neck of the tooth technically referred as Cervical 1/3 of tooth.) as improper cleaning of this part is most often responsible for gum diseases.
    * -First clean the frontal (visible/outer) surface of teeth, then the chewing surfaceand lastly the inner surfaces. If you find the head of brush too large to maintain the 45 degree angle while cleaning the inner surface of teeth, use the brush vertically.


    * -Now, Lift the brush and move anteriorly to the next 3 teeth and repeat the same process cleaning the outer, chewing and inner surfaces.
    * -Continue along the arch till you reach the end of the arch and then shift to the lower teeth and clean them in a similar way.

      position 3
    * -Brush gently along the gum line of your tooth as this effectively dislodges any accumulated food debris (on which bacteria grows).
    * -Brush your tongue too which keeps bad breath away.

How Does Candy And Snacks Affect Our Teeth

Eating candy, toffee, snacks and munchies can cause teeth to decay because of the cultivated starches that get stuck between the teeth and in turn cause periodontal disease. This type of fast food that remain in the mouth for long intervals cause bacteria to grow which forms acidic and then decay the teeth and the gums.

How do we know when food can affect our teeth causing bacteria?

We would be able to make out when food is stuck between teeth when even after some a long time we can get the taste of that food or can feel it around. This is bad because it has already caused the bacteria to thrive.

What are the consequences of eating Fast Food in Children?

Children are the first to bear the brunt of fast foods especially if their life revolves around it. The outcomes, which not only affects teeth but also overall health in daily life are:

    * Food that gets stuck in between teeth causes tooth decay leading to endless pain.
    * Their school life gets affected with this pain disturbing their concentration and hindering their learning capacity.
    * Eating too much of this food, which lacks nutritive value, can result in obesity, diabetes (Type 2) and problems related to the heart.
    * All these factors can worsen over time causing acute tooth infection.
    * For growing children, fast food which lacks nutrition and does not have enough calcium causes harmful effects on new teeth coming in which could be unhealthy and lack strength.
    * Lack of nutrition and calcium can cause weak bones and ion deficiency could result in stunted brain development.

Healthy habits to follow

Our body requires the necessary amounts of calcium, ion and nutrients to grow. To achieve this development a healthy balance of food is required. Home cooked food is the healthiest for children and economical.

Eating good home cooked food does not require lots of money. In the first place it is healthy, nourishing, wholesome and cheap if cooked in large quantities for the whole family as compared to any outdoor eatery where the quality may be questioned and the quantity limited.

A diet full of fruits and vegetables is the ideal diet. The more colorful they are the more nutritious they can be. So, the right amount of healthy food and the minimum amount of processed foods or packaged foods, as they contain preservatives, should be consumed. Before buying any processed foods it is better to check the ingredients listed on the package. A list with more preservatives should be avoided.

Teaching a child when he or she is small is very important. What he learns to eat at this age will be carried on till he grows up. Therefore it is imperative to start healthy food early in life. A child has also to be made aware that processed foods have preservatives which are not good, they should be kept to the minimum and should not be eaten as a substitute to food.