Teeth clenching ?

[LuckyThatMyBreastsAreSmallAndHumble]

Has anyone found a way to stop doing this in their sleep?

Yes, by destressing my life and dealing with the root cause of why it was happening.
otherwsie I was offered wax by the dentist to stop it eroding my teeth

Yep dentist keeps telling me to "be less stressed" 🙄

I got a mouth guard to sleep with. It helps in as far as I'm not grinding my teeth down to pain. Doesn't tackle the root issue though. I am considering hypnotherapy

I paid for the dentist to make me a gum shield

I would love to know this too. I clench my teeth during the day and at night and my jaw aches! I might start cutting out my daily latte to see if that helps.

Just get a mouthguard made. It cuts down on the tension in your jaw during the daytime and also protects the teeth.

I also got a mouth guard from my dentist, moulded to my own teeth. I wear it at night and, sometimes if I'm having an afternoon nap. I'm currently looking at seeing if I can buy one which I can mould to my teeth, as my dentist-supplied ones were quite expensive. 🌹

My dentist made me one for whitening- is this the same thing?

Well I've been told to wear a shield in the day and only eat soft food!!! A gum shield is a start

I've recently got a mouth guard. Not sure what a whitening one looks like but it's a clear guard, Google dental retainer for a picture. I don't think I'm particularly stressed but I was breaking teeth and waking up with lockjaw every day which has hugely reduced.

I wear a 'splint' to sleep which is a hard plastic shield. I've lost 2 teeth from clenching . It's better since I've started yoga / relaxation. I have been considering acupuncture but I seem to be ok at the moment.
There are some good facial stretches on You Tube that help with pain relief

Mind if I ask how acupuncture is meant to help? As I mentioned above I'm considering hypnotherapy but haven't yet gone there.

I have a mouth guard fitted to just my front two teeth so I can't close my back teeth on themselves. It's called an NTI. My dentist made it although I lived overseas at the time and I'm not sure if UK dentists really know about them. It's brilliant as it has helped me break the habit entirely and I only wore it regularly for a couple of weeks. If I feel the tension returning, I use it again and it breaks the habit. Regular mouth guards don't change the clenching behaviour so not always that helpful.

Funnily enough I went to the dentist yesterday and he asked if I grind my teeth, my previous dentist asked the same and I said I'd checked with my husband already and he's never noticed any grinding when I've been asleep and he's been awake. So the dentist thinks it's not grinding but clenching, due to stress. I am quite a stressy person so I think this is likely.
He made me a mout guard which I'm supposed to wear in bed every night, he also told me to wear it in labor!

I have tried it all. Mouth guards, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, yoga stretches..Botox was mentioned by specialist but I was told wasn’t appropriate (numbing of jaw muscles) Broken several teeth. Wake up every morning with sore jaw and at least once a week debilitated by subsequent blinding headaches and neck ache. Nothing fixes it..
Told to “be more relaxed and try to stress less” Right then. Unless I went to live on a cloud in a state of perpetual anaesthesia I don’t see that happening. It’s just awful.

I have had mouth guards over the years which I bit my way through, they did ease the pressure as others have said. The only thing that's really worked for me was Botox which really helped for about a year until it wore off. Expensive though!

My whitening trays look like this.
Dentist moulded to my teeth.
Is a retainer / mouth guard different?

Will that be thick enough? I wear a mouth guard on my lower teeth at night. Certainly reduces the headaches in the morning. I have to get them replaced as I eventually end up biting through them!

When I get them the dentist does it privately as more expensive through the NHS bizarrely

How old are you? This was a major menopause symptom for me - constant jaw ache because of clenching.

On HRT 👍

Botox for bruxism is life changing :)
it relaxes the grinding muscles

Botox. I have mine done every 4/5 months. The difference is amazing. I also wear a guard at night. I wish someone offered me Botox before l permanently damaged nerves in my lower jaw.

Maybe time to go back to the GP and talk about a HRT tweak @LuckyThatMyBreastsAreSmallAndHumble ?

Yeah that looks similar to mine. It's quite thick and slightly flexible.