Are you clenching: jaw clenching and teeth clenching? Have you decided to stop grinding, due to the following:

• your partner rails about the grinding noises you make during the night
• you wake up with a sore or tense jaw
• you find you have chipped teeth, or that your fillings are falling out for no apparent reason
• your inside cheek is raw, caused by chewing it during the night
• you have difficulties sleeping, or you are waking up during the night
• you have morning headaches
• you experience ringing in your ears
• you have neck pains

The jaw clenching and teeth grinding, technically known as bruxism, can not only be hard on the teeth but, as you see from the above list, can affect your life.

Stop Grinding Teeth…

There are many ways to stop jaw clenching and teeth clenching

Mouth guards and splints: Your dentist can customize a hard plastic, acrylic mouth guard. These cost in the range of $200-$500+. Or, you can buy non-customized mouth guards made of a softer rubber at the drug store for $20-$30. The custom-made mouth guards are smaller, more inclined to be comfortable, and stay in the mouth better. The drug store variety is more bulky but, obviously, has a cost advantage.

Mouth guards do not actually stop the grinding habit but rather, stop the tooth destruction. Therefore, you need to wear the mouth guards every night to prevent further destruction. Also, there are many people who find they can’t wear the mouth guards, as they simply find wearing them too uncomfortable. A custom fit and ongoing checkups by a dentist is highly recommended to ensure that your bite does not change.

Biofeedback: Jaw clenching is a habit and, like all bad habits, needs to be changed. However, it is difficult to change any habit – let alone one that occurs during sleep. There are various biofeedback devices on the market that can be used to detect help stop grinding while you are sleeping. You attach yourself to these devices through headbands or attachments to the cheekbones These devices can then detect the grinding and reportedly stop the grinding through biofeedback using either alarms or electrical pulses. These devices can cost between $250-$300.

Botox: Botox, when injected, partially paralyzes muscles. This is the reason why Botox is used for cosmetic changes, as the paralyzed muscles reduce winkles. For bruxism, injected Botox weakens the jaw muscles and therefore, reduces the jaw clenching and grinding. However, there are some major downsides with Botox, as it is a toxin and can kill people in quantities of less than 1 microgram. Plus, a 2008 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that injected Botox can migrate to the brain stem. This finding, plus numerous hospitalizations and deaths, has caused the FDA to start a safety review of Botox.

Teeth Clenching Exercises…

Hypnosis: You grind your teeth unconsciously while asleep. Therefore, you need a process that can work with the unconscious mind to stop the teeth clenching. Hypnosis does just that. Because of this power to work with the subconscious, research has shown that hypnosis for a bruxism habit can be very effective.

Of all the above steps, hypnosis is the least invasive. You can use a hypnotherapist, which is especially useful for deep-seated issues that could be causing the tooth grinding. Or, for a quicker, less expensive method that works for just the tooth grinding, there are online hypnosis websites that offer tooth-grinding hypnosis downloads.

The tooth grinding hypnosis downloads are easy to obtain and can be played at home. Expect them to put you into a deeply relaxed state that allows the soothing stop-grinding messages and images to go into the unconscious mind, where the habit lives. With this process, you train the sleeping mind to stop the habit and relax the jaw clenching and teeth grinding.

The tooth grinding self-hypnosis downloads are usually relatively cheap – you can get them for around $10. Just be sure you review the "about us" area of the website to ensure that the company is reputable and ethical, with qualified, experienced people behind the products. Also – look for a 100% money-back guarantee.

So – of the above, a self-hypnosis download is the least costly, provides relaxation, works at the unconscious level where the habit lives – and doesn’t cost anything if it doesn’t work. This could easily be an excellent step for you to take. In fact, you can start on your tooth grinding-free journey right now. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain – like a good smile and a good night’s sleep.

Author:  BJ Anderson

About the Author

I am exploring the fascinating benefits of online hypnosis at the Online Hypnosis Blog. I am finding that research shows that hypnosis works, and also that online hypnosis provides a natural, inexpensive method of solving issues such as the ability to stop jaw clenching and teeth clenching. Come find out for yourself.

BJ Anderson
Online Hypnosis Blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=BJ_Anderson

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