How to Stop Grinding Your Teeth at Night

Movement is common during sleep, but some types can be more harmful than others. While many of us may move our jaws and teeth during different parts of slumber, an estimated 8% of the adult population has been known to grind their teeth during the night — a serious issue that can lead to dental and other severe issues down the road.

Grinding your teeth is more common during childhood, but most adults grow out of it. The trouble is, when you’re asleep, you’re not in control of your movements. So, if you suspect you’re grinding your teeth at night, what can you do?

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We’ll help you identify the meaning of grinding your teeth, explain why it happens, offer ways to spot the issue, and help you address it so you don’t have to worry about dental duress while getting some shuteye.

What Does It Mean to Grind Your Teeth at Night?

Grinding your teeth, also referred to as bruxism, is the involuntary act of clenching and pressing your teeth together. When you grind your teeth at night, it can wear down your enamel and cause dental issues. If you suffer from sleep apnea or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the damage from bruxism can often be worse.

It’s estimated that as many as 20% of the population grind their teeth during the day, but only 8% or so do during the night. Sleep bruxism isn’t constant Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source  though — most people alternate between grinding and clenching and may have only one episode a night or up to 100 episodes. Minor sleep bruxism is rarely an issue, but more severe episodes can cause major problems.

Why Do We Grind Our Teeth at Night?

There are many factors that can cause us to grind or clench our teeth at night — those with sleep bruxism may suffer from one or more causes.

“Sleep bruxism is considered to be a sleep-related movement disorder with a multifactorial complex etiology, that is yet unclear,” says Dr. Nayantara Santhi. “What we do know is that sleep bruxism tend to occur during light non-REM sleep (stage 2), whereas about 10% of them occur during REM sleep in association with sleep arousal.”

“Sleep arousals are natural activities during sleep that consist of a repetitive rise in heart rate, muscle tone and brain activity.”

One of the major risk factors for bruxism is stress. This can lead to awake or asleep bruxism. In fact, during the coronavirus pandemic, issues were bruxism were found to intensify. Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source  Researchers in a 2020 study found that heightened stress, anxiety, depression can all cause or exacerbate existing symptoms of teeth grinding — both during the day and at night — leading to increased pain in the mouth, teeth, and jaw.

Bruxism, particularly sleep bruxism, has also been determined to be caused by genetics. Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source  If your parents or other family members grind their teeth at night, there’s a larger chance that you also do the same.

Snoring or caffeine can also lead to sleep bruxism. But in some cases, there is not always a clear reason for why sleep bruxism is occurring. Researchers are still unsure why this disorder affects certain members of the population. However, sleeping disorders are also thought to play a large role in the cause of overnight bruxism.

Teeth Grinding and Sleep Issues

Sleep bruxism is thought to be caused or worsened by some sleep conditions like sleep apnea, particularly obstructive sleep apnea, which is a more severe form of this sleeping disorder. Multiple studies have found Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source clear causation between sleep apnea and sleep bruxism, though there is more research to be done.

Some researchers believe that sleep bruxism or nighttime teeth grinding and obstructive sleep apnea are linked, while others speculate that they occur independently of each other. The exact link — if any — has not been found yet. However, if you suffer from one, it can be helpful to know that both disorders often occur together, so you can be on the lookout for symptoms of the other, just in case.

Is Grinding Your Teeth at Night Harmful?

Why is sleep bruxism a problem? Grinding your teeth — both during the day and at night — can wreak havoc on your dental and oral health. Although mild cases may not incur much damage, more severe cases can wear down your tooth enamel. It can also be harmful if you have dental crowns, causing damage to the fixtures or opposing teeth.

Sleep bruxism can often be worse than grinding your teeth during the day, since you’re unaware of it occurring and unable to prevent or stop it. In fact, it’s estimated that people who grind their teeth during the night can put as much as 250 pounds of pressure onto their teeth, jaws, and mouths. As a result, you may experience headaches, jaw pain, neck pain, and muscle soreness. This could also lead to more complicated issues in the jaw, if left untreated.

And, while nighttime teeth grinding rarely wakes you up, it can be loud and disruptive to your partner, roommates, or other members of your household, keeping them awake.

6 Ways to Stop Grinding Your Teeth While You Sleep

If you often wake up with a sore mouth, have been told you grind your teeth in your sleep, or suspect based on genetics that you may suffer from bruxism at night, it’s important to talk to your doctor to officially get a diagnosis.

Treatment options vary depending on your symptoms and the severity of your bruxism. A few common ways to reduce, prevent, or eliminate nighttime teeth grinding include:

1. Mouthguards

One popular treatment method to reduce the stress on your teeth and painful grinding is wearing a mouthguard at bedtime. Nighttime mouthguards can be specially fitted by a dentist to comfortably fit your teeth and mouth. Over-the-counter nightguards may also be helpful, and even mouth taping for snoring may have an effect.

Additional types of mouthguards include mandibular advancement devices, which help keep your jaw stabilized at night, preventing clenching and grinding. It may take some trial and error to find the right mouthguard for you.

2. Reducing Your Stress Levels

Since stress is thought to be one of the leading causes of bruxism, reducing the amount of stress in your life can help alleviate symptoms. How is this done? This will depend entirely on your lifestyle and the changes you’re willing and able to make. For instance, going to therapy to work through a particularly difficult life situation may help unburned your stress and prevent your nighttime teeth grinding.

But this can also be accomplished by letting go of your stress before bed, by creating a bedtime routine with activities such as:

• Unplugging from electronics that can affect sleep
• Reading a book, preferably a traditional print one
• Taking a warm bath or shower
• Going for a slow, relaxing walk

3. Botox

Botox is a procedure you may often link with wrinkles or sagging skin, but botox (botulinum toxin) may also help with nighttime teeth grinding. How? Botox has a temporary paralyzing effect on muscles. To help with teeth grinding, injections can be given directly into the muscles in your mouth and/or jaw, in order to help them relax.

A 2017 survey shows Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source  promising results for bruxism sufferers who received Botox injections. However, Botox is expensive and will need to be injected repeatedly over time, since its effects wear off within 3 to 6 months.

4. Biofeedback Therapy

One interesting treatment for nighttime bruxism involves behavioral change. Biofeedback therapy believes you can unteach your body to react in certain ways, thereby changing the behavior of your muscles — even while you’re asleep. The premise is simple. If your body can learn and adapt to new behaviors, it can also unlearn them.

For bruxism, a therapist would alert you Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source whenever the undesired behavior (when teeth grinding occurs) with some sort of sensor (offering visual, auditory, or vibratory responses).

By alerting you each time the unwanted behavior occurs, the thought is that the body can adapt and stop performing this behavior. However, in nighttime bruxism, biofeedback therapy becomes more complicated since the behavior occurs while you’re not conscious.

Although research continues to explore this treatment method, so far it’s delivered mixed results, but could be worth considering if you’re pursuing alternative treatments.

5. Massage

This type of treatment method can help reduce symptoms and pain brought on my nighttime bruxism, but may not eliminate the problem. Massaging sore jaw muscles Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source can help relieve tightness and prevent headaches. In some cases, massage before bed can relax muscles enough to reduce or prevent bruxism symptoms, but this doesn’t work for all patients.

Massage might be best employed in combination with another treatment method — especially for severe cases.

6. Coronoplasty

A coronoplasty is a dental procedure that may be recommended for some forms of nighttime bruxism. It can reduce and/or change the occlusal areas and scheme of your mouth  — the top layer of your teeth — in order to preserve your dental health.

This procedure would not be recommended for all types of bruxism, but severe sufferers may benefit from a coronoplasty. Alternative treatment methods should be pursued first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do people grind their teeth at night?

Stress and anxiety can be major risk factors for nighttime teeth grinding. This is why learning to relax before bed is a recommended element of treating bruxism. Sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea can also include bruxism in their list of symptoms, and treating the underlying cause can help prevent teeth grinding.

How do I know if I clench my teeth while sleeping?

Naturally, it’s difficult to know what you’re doing while you’re asleep. So you will have to look at how you feel in the morning for symptoms of bruxism. If you regularly wake up with dull headaches and sore jaws, you may want to make an appointment with a dental professional to check your teeth for excessive wear and tear.

The sound of teeth grinding may not be as loud as snoring, but it’s also still possible for a bed partner to notice if you’re doing it as you sleep.

What happens if you grind your teeth too much?

Grinding your teeth can lead to extra tooth sensitivity and even worn-down or broken teeth. This can necessitate tooth fillings or crowns, or even teeth replacements. Aside from the effects on your teeth, bruxism is also linked to morning headaches and earaches.

What can I use instead of a night guard for teeth grinding?

One common alternative to mouth guards is occlusal splints, designed to reposition jaw muscles so grinding doesn’t occur. This is unlike a night guard, which doesn’t work to prevent grinding, only to protect your teeth from it.

Biofeedback treatments are another treatment possibility. Sleepers wear a small electrode that monitors their movements, typically placing it behind their ear or on the back of their head. When their jaws begin to grind, the electrode sends a signal to their brain to get it to stop. This gradually conditions their bodies to avoid jaw-grinding motions in their sleep.

How can I stop teeth grinding at night?

Bruxism is linked to poor sleep hygiene, so improving your sleep habits can help eliminate nighttime teeth grinding. If another sleep disorder such as sleep apnea is causing your teeth grinding, you will need to treat the underlying cause with an appropriate method, like a CPAP machine.

If stress and anxiety are causing your grinding habits, you may need to work with a therapist to establish a relaxing routine. Biofeedback and occlusal splints can help you train yourself out of grinding movements as you sleep, too.

The Bottom Line

Grinding your teeth while you sleep can cause painful problems in your mouth, jaw, or neck and may even keep your spouse up at night. While nighttime bruxism can be hereditary, researchers have also linked high levels of stress, depression, anxiety, and some sleeping disorders like sleep apnea to nighttime teeth grinding.

Mild cases of nighttime bruxism may require no diagnosis. In fact, you may not ever notice you grind your teeth. But if your mouth muscles or teeth are in pain from suspected grinding, it’s important to talk to your doctor to consider any links to sleeping disorders and find the best course of treatment or prevention.