Bruxism and headaches

[tamirra]

Hi, i suffer very bad with bruxism ( teeth grinding ) which leaves me with servere headaches, not a normal run of the mill headaches, these heads make me feel quite ill and it seems that no painkillers take the pain away, its not only in my head its also in my left ear which is the side that the jaw is crumbling away, i was hoping that there might be some other poor soul on here that suffers the same way as me and maybe has some help they can give. Thank you so much.

[Ethel]

Have you been fitted with a shield to stop the bruxism?

Have you tried taking valium or other such drugs at night time to alleviate the bruxism?

You need to deal with the cause rather than the effect.

[Bathsheba]

Hi tamirra. My dentist fitted me with a splint- a guard to wear over my bottom teeth at night.
If you don't have a NHS dentist, it may be possible to go to a dental technician and get them to make one for you. It will certainly be cheaper than paying a private dentist x

[chazza]

I'm the same and I went to my dentist who got a bite guard made for �70.

In case I ever lost it or left it behind somewhere, i bought a spare one from ebay. With this one you immerse it in freshly boiled water until it is soft and then put it in your mouth and mould it around the teeth.

it was less than �10 and is a good alternative if you cannot afford the dentists one

[tamirra]

Hi, thanks for your answers, yes i have had 2 gum shields made, made no difference, ive been on dothiopin which were a relaxant was on them for years, yes it did help slightly but the effects never wore off so i was constantly tired, my dentist has told me that the only way im going to stop this was to have a brain transplant as ive now taught my brain to do this and i always will, how true that is i`ll never know, but what i do know is that if i carry on doing it then i will need an operation to re-build my jaw as it is crumbling away where i do it so bad.

[Bathsheba]

Ah bless tamirra, you poor thing.
That's useful to know about ebay,chazza,
I'll have a scout round on there x

[LoftyLottie]

I had a bite guard, but somehow it always ended up at the bottom of the bed in the night. I must have taken it out in my sleep. I hated it. I have a malformed jaw and a large overbite and am now prone to biting the roof of my mouth because I have ground my teeth down so much.

I get awful headaches/earaches too and a lot of jaw pain.

With I had an answer for you, but I don't - I can only offer you empathy and sympathy.

[tamirra]

Thank you to everyone just a shame there was not an answer out there to help me. xx

[Bathsheba]

I'm sure you've Googled for help already tamirra, but Calcium and Magnesium might help- Magnesium can be calming. Good luck x

[MrXLA]

NB - it is currently illegal for a dental technician to contstruct/provide any oral prosthesis unless under the instruction of a dentist.

[tamirra]

Hi, yes i have and ive just actually ordered calcium and vitamin b tablets to see if it does help, i just feel so drained all the time, as i had a bad day yesterday must have been grinding Monday night and i paid for it yeserday, wish i was wurzle gummidge so i could change my head for another. Thanks. x

[MrXLA]

Hi tamira,
If we make the assumption (and should be careful when doing so) that your headaches are SOLEY as a result of bruxism, then the solution is quite obvious.
However you made a reference to jaw 'crumbling' presumably you are referring to damage occuring around your left tempromandibular joint possibly of the articular disc.
I'm therefore making another assumption that this is a result of the constant wear and tear you place on that joint as a result of the bruxism.
The pain you experience is no doubt multifactorial, firstly there will be muscle hypertrophy and at the same time fatigue there will also be pain around the joints themselves, headaches probably occurimg as a result of the muscle attachments i.e the large temporalis muscle group (that you can feel on the side of your head) and of course this will all be excerbated by the pyschological impact that having chronic pain has.
That said as I've mentioned if the bruxing can be prevented then the pain and discomfort can be reduced. It could be that the splints yo ahve had in the past were simply not appropriate for your case and that possibly a splint designed specifically to reposition your mandible during wear will physically prevent you from bruxing. Some splints (possibly ones you have already had) don't necessarily prevent you from grinding the merely assist in shock aborbance if you will and therefore are not appropriate for everyone.

[tamirra]

Mr XLA, everything you just said in your post hit it on the nail, but still with no exact help really though is there any??

[MrXLA]

Well as I mentioned above a different type of splint that repositions your lower jaw and therefore physically prevents you from grinding (rather than mere shock absorbance) would in theory help.
Also drug therapy