What Should You Know About Sleep Apnea & Bruxism?

Many people suffer from sleep apnea and bruxism, usually at night, known as sleep bruxism. Sleep bruxism often leads to waking up with headaches and neck and jaw pain. While Sleep bruxism is a dental problem, it is also considered a sleep-related disorder.

Sometimes sleep problems can go unnoticed. If a person can’t perceive the main symptoms while sleeping, they may not be aware of the problem. Therefore, many health issues are connected to bruxism, such as stress and teeth misalignment. Still, it can also cause a severe ailment called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Sleep apnea causes breathing problems, especially at night.

What is Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)?

OSA is when a person’s breathing slows or pauses frequently during sleep due to a closed airway. Many manifest as daytime drowsiness, morning headaches, loud snoring, or choking for air while sleeping. Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism, usually happen while sleeping. Therefore, a dentist near me will suggest that teeth grinding may have a link with OSA in some cases.

What Is Bruxism?

This is known as bruxism or teeth grinding when you clench your jaw muscles and bite down on your teeth. While not everyone experiences problems due to teeth grinding, in certain instances, it can irritate the jaw, cause damage to the teeth, or interfere with sleep. Contact your dentist for bruxism treatment near me in Houston, TX.

Symptoms of Grinding Your Teeth

The rigid jaw contractions that result from tooth grinding might cause observable symptoms.

People who clench or grind their teeth while they sleep may wake up with headaches.

Jaw or neck pain:

Teeth grinding might entail biting down with greater force than is necessary for normal chewing, which can lead to jaw or neck pain.

Jaw clicking:

People who clench or grind their teeth as they sleep may hear clicking or popping sounds.

Damage to the teeth:

As teeth grinding can cause and puts pressure on the teeth, it may cause significant wear and tear, and you may need dental treatment. Teeth grinding can also cause some alters in the patient’s bite, which makes chewing & biting more challenging.

Teeth sensitivity:

Teeth worn down by nightly grinding may become more sensitive to heat and cold.

Mouth injury: A person’s cheeks, tongue, or lips could become damaged from teeth grinding and clenching as they sleep.

Teeth grinding & sleep apnea?

Numerous investigations have revealed that a more significant proportion of patients than anticipated suffer from both OSA and sleep-related bruxism.

Treatment

Managing sleep apnea can help alleviate nighttime teeth grinding or bruxism. The treatment that can treat moderate to severe sleep apnea is through a continuous positive airway pressure device ( CPAP).

This mask fits on your nose while sleeping. It uses air pressure to keep airway passages unrestricted, which helps to prevent sleep apnea and also snoring. When using a CPAP, patients with bruxism and sleep apnea have their breathing problems improved, and the teeth-grinding issues stop entirely.

Therefore, you must consider oral appliance therapy; it is an oral device that your sleep physician will provide. The device treats obstructive sleep apnea by moving the lower jaw slightly forward, keeping the airway open. Patients with bruxism and sleep apnea can see drastic changes and improvements in sleep and oral health with oral appliance therapy.

In Conclusion:

Your dentist will provide a custom-fit mouth guard to treat OSA and sleep-related bruxism. Visit your dentist if you are suffering from bruxism or sleep apnea. Book an appointment now with dentist near me in Houston, TX.