Braces & bruxism

[Mullany]

I've had my braces for 18 days now and am really struggling with headaches face ache and neck pain. Does anyone else have a bad bruxism habit? I'm facing 3 years of braces, any tips on how to get through it?

[amyhenna]

Hi- Just to understand, is your bruxism all throughout the day or just at night? Why is it worse with braces, do you think? Just trying to understand.

I clench at night, but it's not gotten worse with braces.

[sirwired]

Have you mentioned this to your ortho yet?

[Mullany]

I think I clench at night & during the day. I wore NTIs for 2 months before braces & I've had botox. Phoned my Otho & was told to keep a pain diary & bring it to my next appointment on 24th June. I'm wearing a brace on top & an nti on bottom.

I'm feeling really down as I can't face 3 years of this.

[TMJJill]

I had severe bruxism issues prior to getting my braces. I had a sleep splint for years. The last year before braces, I had a wonderful custom night splint that actually wouldn't let me brux at all. I wanted to cry when I had to give it up because it helped so incredibly much.

When I got my braces, I not only had bruxism that returned, I had some major tongue biting/chewing that kept waking me up at night when I slept. In the beginning, I actually needed a couple weeks of low-dose muscle relaxers to help me sleep. I also had a lot of orofacial physical therapy with trigger point releases of my masseter and pterygoid muscles in my mouth to help relax the facial muscles.

Early on, my orthodontist had me start wearing elastics from my lower back molars to my upper canines. This held my lower jaw in a more forward position when I was sleeping and helped some with the bruxism. As my bite has changed with the braces, I've gone periods of time when I have done well. At other times, I've had a bit of a flare that messes with my sleep. I've gotten through it though with therapy. As my upper arch has developed through my treatment, the bruxism issues have decreased.

When I get my braces off, hopefully later this year, my retainer will be customized to act as a sleep appliance as well to help keep me from having the bruxism issues return like before.

By the way, I had my upper braces first and wore a lower mandibular repositioning splint 24/7 until I got my lowers on. I tried NTI's a couple times and they were HORRIBLE for me. They actually made my problems much worse. I ended up having my lower splint cut back and getting brackets on my lower back teeth so I could wear the elastics to help.

There is a book that I found extremely helpful. It is called The TMJ Healing Plan: 10 steps to relieving Headaches, Neck Pain and Jaw disorders, by Cynthia Peterson. It has information that you may find helpful on helping relax the muscles that clench when you brux. It also has information on posture, breathing and sleep positions that may help you as well.

[Mullany]

Thanks TMJJill, your story has been a great help! I'm glad that you're getting better as your bite improves, it gives me hope.

I've also got a TMJ disorder and have braces as part of stage 2. Somedays I worry that I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life. It's interesting that you found NTIs horrible, I felt that they made me worse but was told it was impossible.

I'm seeing my osteo tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some relief.

[TMJJill]

Thanks TMJJill, your story has been a great help! I'm glad that you're getting better as your bite improves, it gives me hope.

I've also got a TMJ disorder and have braces as part of stage 2. Somedays I worry that I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life. It's interesting that you found NTIs horrible, I felt that they made me worse but was told it was impossible.

I'm seeing my osteo tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some relief.

Thankfully my current orthodontist really listened to me and kept trying new strategies to find something to help me. I was in tears with the NTI. i can't imagine being made to wear it for any extended time with pain like that. My repositioning splint was much more comfortable.

I forgot to add in my strategies above that my orthodontist was trying to help me relax. He would blend some doTerra essential oils up for me to put on my neck and chest before sleep.

I also have a CD that one of my other tmj consults that I tried for a long time. It was called Freedom from TMJ by Denise Lynch. It is basically a relaxation cd that focuses a lot of time on the facial muscles. It does address the entire body. It is intended to use just to help you relax, but I tended to fall asleep by 5 minutes in. My dentists all agreed that I was probably still getting benefit subconsciously after that. I'm not sure how much it helped, but I know it didn't hurt anything.

I hope you get some help from the osteo visit.

[Mylene]

I suffered from bruxism for over 20 years - including horrible pain, root canals, broken teeth, ugggh... I spent $$$ on nightguards, and they protected the enamel but they made me clench even more and I hated wearing them. Then I discovered the SleepGuard biofeedback headband. Wow. Now I have NO pain, I don't grind, and since I wear braces, I don't wear a nightguard - although I tried for a while last year, and posted all the related drama on ArchWired...
You can Google SleepGuard, or go to www dot stopgrinding dot com. They have a free ebook about bruxism, causes, treatments, etc. The biofeedback headband beeps when you grind in your light sleep phase, so you stop before it causes pain and/or damage. They don't charge you for 3 weeks, they let you sample the headband, and make sure it actually works, or you return it and then you don't pay for it. If you have any questions about it message me.
Good luck!!!

[isthistaken]

I've been clenching my teeth constantly lately because they suddenly fit together perfectly for the first time in my (longish) life.