To ask how on earth can I stop clenching my jaw when I'm asleep

[haw]

I'm sure my jaw clenches while I'm sleeping

I don't know how or why it happens but I woke a few times last night and caught my teeth kind of grinding together

How can I not do this when I'm asleep? I'm thinking some kind of mouth guard but can anyone recommend a certain one?

I would recommend going through a dentist. I had one made for about £90 - it was moulded to my front teeth (just the top ones) and completely stopped my clenching and resulting pain!

The soft guards won't stop you grinding.
You need a hard one that your teeth slide over. They can't grip so slide off.

But you won't 'lose' it. This will be offered alongside dental care & advice.

You will get properly assessed and a diagnosis of what's happening made.

Stop seeing the mouthguard on its own as a standalone cost.

I use cheap ones off Amazon and they're brilliant. I've had a custom one made by my dentist before but my dentist agreed the one I have now is doing the job. I'm a clencher not a grinder though, so that might make a difference.

I found the first week or so I wore one it would come out in the night (or I took it out in my sleep). I found it on my bedside table, down by my feet, on the floor... but you get used to it.

I've also found wearing one on my bottom teeth much comfier than top teeth.

You can probably still cancel the Amazon order.

Absolutely..I have one top tooth which slants backwards so had to have my teeth moulded. The dentist was fab. She told me it was a common problem for those suffering from anxiety as you don't realise you're grinding your teeth when you're sleeping. . I was waking up with sore teeth and headaches. The new guard got rid of it. OP, it does feel funny wearing it at first but the guard really does help. Don't buy cheap go to the dentists for advice.

I was worried I was going to choke on mine, at first!

I have one from the dentist, but it cost £350! You wear it over your bottom 4 teeth, works a treat

botox was the only thing that really worked for me - needs to be a specialist with lots of experience

I've ground my teeth through the hard ones and the soft ones. I found the soft ones better comfort wise as the plastic doesn't get bitten/chipped off so easily during the teeth grinding sessions.

The Amazon one I got was much thicker than the thin one from the dentist, which wore a hole in two years and was never very comfortable so i would wake up finding id taken it out in my sleep. Maybe my dentist just isn't very good?! But anyway the Amazon one has been going for three years now and I wear it every night, only on my bottom teeth. Top teeth makes me gag but bottom teeth it feels comfortable and is still perfectly in place in the morning. My dentist is happy with me using the Amazon one 🤷‍♀️

Great to hear a range of views on this and I look forward to hopefully stopping this jaw thing.

Side note - did you also snore and if so has it helped with this?

If you snore and grind your teeth then it’s very likely that you have sleep apnoea, especially if you are overweight.

My BMI is 30 so I think that is classed as overweight although I'm a size 14 so have a relatively average figure.

I did see the doc about possible sleep apnea and he said I may have a mild case but it is not affecting me severely so to offer any treatment in his words would be like taking a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

BMI 30 is obese, but only just.

It’s very likely that the teeth grinding is linked to the apnoea. I would get the mouth guard for now - any improvement in your sleep will also help you to lose a bit of weight if you want to. You probably aren’t getting good quality deep sleep at the moment and that makes it very hard to lose weight - again, if you want to.

Yes I do and that was essentially the medical advice around lifestyle choices.

I have a guard which protects my teeth but it doesn't stop the clenching!

Yea my guard doesn’t stop me clenching but so far it has stopped me losing any more teeth