Your turn to help me –
About alcohol consumption and grinding teeth: Has anyone experienced or know about a connection between them?
As in — is it possible that I grind my teeth more when I don’t drink?
I asked my MD sis, but she wasn’t aware of a connection. However, she’s let me know that the medical term for grinding teeth is bruxism.
Bruxism runs in the fam. But it’s unclear whether I’m actually grinding my teeth more, or whether I simply notice I’m grinding my teeth more because I’m sober and/or less distracted by other pains, as in hangovers.
Any scientific or anecdotal info?
Here’s a guess: the alcohol could relax your tenseness, thus reducing the amount of jaw clinching. The tenseness could be reduced due to mental or muscular relaxation, or both. Better than alcohol, I recommend a combo of low-caffeine use (especially after morning), yoga meditational exercises, and the use of a nightime mouthguard for two weeks (the mouthguard not only inhibits bruxism in the present, but could retrain jaw muscles by changing their overnight angle and muscular memory).
Comment by zephyr — September 18, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
I’m not sure about your situation, but the more stress I’m under, the more I clinch and grind my teeth. When it gets bad, I do whatever I can to relax and I have to use a bite plate. If the alcohol relaxes you, it might reduce the bruxism at the time.
Comment by Morgan — September 19, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
My husband tells me I grind my teeth and move around less in my sleep after drinking – maybe because I am in a deeper sleep. My night guard has been a lifesaver and I’ve even gotten use to wearing it every night.
Comment by Cindy — September 19, 2007 @ 2:38 pm
From all I can find, you’ll actually grind them *more* : http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=165&issueID=69
for an example. (Search for “bruxism alcohol related” and you’ll find plenty of other web sites supporting that theory)
Comment by Robert 'Groby' Blum — September 19, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Hey,
In Chinese medicine the liver is strongly impacted by both stress and alcohol. We view the liver not just as the organ itself, but also as how the organ interacts with the body. Think of this as a kind of “sphere of influence”. This includes the gall bladder and gall bladder channel which happens to run through the top of the shoulders, into the neck and jaw. What does this have to do with drinking and teeth grinding? Alcohol is very moving and is somewhat toxic. It heats up the liver, this heat (energy) rises through the liver and gall bladder channels and intensifies the grinding. Adding fuel to the way that you process your stress.
Comment by Marc Ryan, L.Ac. — September 19, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
Groby — Interesting study! It’s hard to tell what comes first though — the alcohol (or smoking or caffeine) or bruxism. It’s possible that alcohol makes bruxism worse, but it also may be that people who grind their teeth are more likely to start drinking daily (whether to alleviate stress or to maybe sleep better sans grinding) –
Comment by Siel — September 25, 2007 @ 8:36 am