I've been told by my dentist I have quite servere bruxism. Just before Christmas she made me a hard layered mouth guard that within two months I had cracked either side of by my teeth clenching (it was an extra think one and my dentist said she had never seen this before!). I then had another thick soft one made (as I felt the hard outer was making things worse) and I've worn this cinsiderably down.
I've had issues with jaw clenching (more so than grating my teeth together) for many years and it has led to very sensitive teeth which I at times struggle to brush without pain.
For the past few weeks I seem to be going through a bad phase with it and I'm constantly noticing during the day and night I'm clenching my jaw and it's frequently stiff and sore. Does anyone have any exercises or techniques I can use to help relax the muscles? I've tried sort of rubbing my jaw with my hand a bit with my mouth open but I have no idea if what I'm doing is useful. I've tried googling stretches or jaw exercises but just find generic bruxism info that don't give stretches.
Also, if you've had any treatment not including a mouthguard or anti depressants I'd be very interested as my dentist has said next phase is to refer me to a specialist.