What is Bruxism
What Is Bruxism?
Bruxism (from the Greek βρυγμüς (brygmós), "gnashing of teeth") is a disorder that affects upto 80% of the population at some point during their lives. Bruxism is the grinding of teeth and clenching of the jaw that causes tooth wear, breakages, Temporomandibular Joint disorders (pain and limited movement of the jaw joint), migraines and headache. Both children and adults are affected and is most common in adults over 25 year old. Most people grind and/or clench their teeth occasionally and is usually worse during stressful periods.
There are many dental appliances available to patients, for many years full arch dental appliances such as Michigan Splints have been more commonly used. More recently the introduction of smaller splints such as the NTI-tss has proven to be extremely succesfull reduction in symptoms caused by tooth grinding and clenching.
