I wrote a while back about how I have discovered that I clench my teeth, and the problems that was causing me. I talked about it to a few people as well, and since then a number of people have said to me that they clench their teeth too, so I thought I should follow up. It is pretty common, and it is not necessarily stress related. For a lot of people it is just something that has become habitual. The fact that it barely requires any movement and is (often) imperceptible to others, and in may cases to the person doing it as well, makes it that much easier to slip into.

Putting the reasons WHY it happens aside for a moment, if you know you do it then it would be a good idea to try to stop. I thought it might be a good idea to pass on what I have learned from the jaw specialist, especially since it costs me $90+ each 15min visit I have with him, and I’m sure you don’t want to end up having to pay something like that.

First of all, why try stop clenching? Well, it is likely to be causing you headaches, or at least contributing to them. Also the clenching causes jaw inflammation which ends up limiting how wide you can open your mouth. It also damages the little disc that allows your jaw to open and close, and as I’m sure you already know, any kind of damage to a disc between joints leads to less flexibility in the joint and also to pain when using the joint. Plus, if you do it for long enough, it ends up just hurting all the time. All good reasons to stop.

Stopping is tricky. Clenching is an unconscious activity. The key to stopping is to make it conscious.

Remind yourself of what relaxed feels like: Lay your fingers flat and gently over your temples or just above, and then clench your teeth. Feel the muscles move under your fingers? Those are the muscles that are getting stressed out and contributing to headaches. Unclench and feel them move into a relaxed position. This is how your jaw should be. Try to hold the relaxed position for as long as possible. Put your fingers against your temples regularly (once an hour? a couple of times an hour?) and unclench to help reinforce what the relaxed position feels like, and to check whether you are doing it.

Know the danger times: Often when you are doing other things, you are clenching at the same time. Periods of concentration and focus are particularly bad - watching tv, working at the computer, reading a book, watching a movie, doing the dishes, housework, cooking, that kind of thing. I find that when I am leaning forwards doing an activity I clench, and any time when I am about to exert myself physically.

Check in regularly: What is my jaw doing now? Oh, it’s clenched again. Figure out your danger times and pay attention then. Keep checking yourself, as often as you can, and when you find you are doing it, unclench and go on. It feels ridiculous, but until I can bring it out of unconscious and into consciousness I wont be able to control it. I know I do it in my sleep and I am so used to checking in now that when I wake during the night I check in and unclench. Cos I’m nearly almost always clenched. In fact, even when I am paying attention to it I find myself still DOING it. I lean forward and, knowing that this is likely to trigger a clench, I pay attention and then clench!!! It drives me crazy.

These points are all pretty obvious. It’s not rocket science. But like any habit it is ridiculously hard to train yourself out of it. The doc is happy with me tho. I told him I didn’t want the $500 mouthguard for night-time, that I wanted to work on making it conscious. He was skeptical that I would be able to do it, but gave me a chance. In turn, I’m skeptical that the mouthguard will help - having something in your mouth keeps you salivating all the time which makes sleeping hard - and I suspect I’m likely to just spit it out, either consciously or unconsciously. But he gave me a chance and I have surprised him. My vigilance has resulted in a decrease in swelling and an increase in movement range. He is willing to give me longer to work on it, and the incidence of pain/headaches continues to decrease.

On a slightly different matter (while I’m here, cos its not likely that I will be coming back here on the blog again) survey results indicate that everyone holds their mouth a bit differently. Some people create a vacuum in there and others don’t. Some people’s tongue live pressed against the roof of their mouths; some keep the tongue further back and down. Everyone is different. I find it fascinating. I suspect that the vacuum and the tongue living up on the roof of the mouth increase the chances of people clenching. If you do this, watch out! Start checking in on whether you are clenching. And as for what we do when we are sleeping, apparently quite a lot of gnashing, clenching and grinding is pretty normal in the general population, and very very difficult to control.

I wish I could transfer clenching my teeth to clenching my abs. How good would that be!

What is your experience with quitting a habit, or clenching your teeth?

• Martine (Port Douglas) said on 10/06/22 at 01:08 AM.....

  Quitting alcohol. I had to stop because of my pernicious anemia - in which the red blood cells become enlarged making it hard to get oxygen around the body. Alcohol acts to (further) enlarge red blood cells too, which - in my instance - is NOT a good thing and causes chronic hangovers.

  But I’m the worst non-drinker I know - I will always say yes to a beer or wine if offered one and everyone else is drinking. But I will usually stop at one now. Coming from a family of big drinkers, and having lived a lifestyle of big drinking, and living in a big drinking community, this whole no-alcohol thing is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with as it’s tied up with social activity. But I’m getting there. Small steps, small steps.

• j-ster (adelaide) said on 10/07/01 at 08:39 AM.....

  Small steps indeed, some forward and some back. The associations make it so hard!