We all tend to live a hectic life with too much stress on a daily basis. The stress is a common companion to more and more people every day. However, if the stress levels aren’t managed it might trigger numerous health issues, including reduced immunity, headaches, and numerous sleep disorders. One of the most common sleep disorders which occur due to increased stress is known as sleep bruxism. If you want to know more about sleep bruxism and how it is associated with sleep apnea, keep reading.

What’s Bruxism and Which is the Cause of It

Bruxism, or commonly known as teeth grinding is usually a result of stress which might lead to tooth degradation, facial pain, and having trouble falling and staying asleep. Both anxiety and stress are the main culprits for teeth grinding. Besides these two, magnesium or other dietary deficiencies might also trigger bruxism.

Even though stress, anxiety, and mineral deficiencies might lead to grinding the teeth during the day, the causes for nighttime grinding are completely different. In fact, the root cause of nighttime teeth grinding is usually a result of an underlying sleep disorder, also known as sleep apnea.

Grinding your teeth can be triggered by an instinctive survival response to a constricted or blocked airway. Sleep apnea is a condition when you fall asleep, your muscles relax and obstruct the airway and cause you to stop breathing. As a result, your body responds with teeth grinding to reopen the airway. The risk of teeth grinding is increased if someone in your family already has such an issue.

Bruxism Triggered by Stress

Stress-triggered bruxism means that teeth grinding often correlated with the stress you’re experiencing on an everyday basis. In fact, stress doesn’t only correlate with bruxism but it’s also considered to be the main culprit for it. Hence, if you don’t find ways to manage stress, you’re likely to grind your teeth and experience tooth damage and facial pain.

This powerful combo, of unmanaged stress and bruxism, can fuel insomnia. As a result, insomnia might even increase stress and promote other sleep difficulties. You might want to try meditation or other relaxing for stress management. Likewise, if you suffer from nighttime teeth grinding, try night mouth guards.

How to Treat Teeth Grinding

Until you find the underlying cause for bruxism, it’s crucial to get custom dental night guards. They will reduce the effects of bruxism, alleviate the facial pain and prevent tooth damage.

 The custom-fitted mouth guards will help you have comfortable sleep and possible ease insomnia symptoms.

Additionally, teeth grinding sufferers might benefit from drug therapy. Nevertheless, it’s always best to opt for a safer option, such as custom mouth guard, than drugs which usually come with side effects.

Nevertheless, it’s crucial to treat the source not only the symptoms. Thus, as the most common cause of bruxism in sleep apnea, treating this sleep disorder will definitely improve the symptoms of bruxism. So, it’s best to undergo tests to determine whether or not you have sleep apnea. Based on the results, the sleep specialist will likely recommend APAP or CPAP machines.

So, if you worry about your teeth health as you grind your teeth often and suspect that you might have sleep apnea, consult a sleep specialist.