Relief for Teeth-Grinding

I will spare you the pain of reading yet another blog post summarizing the latest breathing article that I read. And God knows, there are plenty of those to choose from every week. You'd think by the number of articles that have been written recently on breathing that it was the "hot" new thing to do or something, like those "lose weight by obeying the one simple rule" ads that have been popping up in our e-mail account ad sidebars every day for the last month.

Today I will mention an article on the link between stress and teeth-grinding, or bruxism. There is, of course, a correlation, and the article mentions various ways to alleviate the pressure on your teeth through the use of mouth guards and similar apparati, but, according to Dr. Nancy Rosen, "because stress causes most of all grinding, the only real way to cure it is to reduce the stress in your life". Rosen suggests exercise and meditation, and forms of therapy that are centered around relaxation (please keep your local humble hypnotist in mind). Dr. Harold Menschel of the TMJ and Facial Pain institute "also recommends relaxation therapy and even hypnosis". Even hypnosis? Does anyone else, non-hypnotists included, sense a little bit of condescension in that? Even hypnosis indeed.

Anyway, as a hypnotist myself (or even a hypnotist, I should say), one method that I recommend is to spend more time being aware of the tension and tightness in your jaw area that leads to teeth-grinding or clenching, and to deliberately relax those areas regularly. This can be done by visualizing or directing relaxation to the area during meditation or deep breathing, or by reciting an affirmation or self-suggestion like, "My jaws are loose and relaxed, and my teeth are separated" while in a state of self-hypnosis. Do this before bed, so you can go to sleep without carrying any tension in your jaws that would cause nightly teeth-grinding. And also do it first thing in the morning, and at various times in the day when you would feel stress, whether it's while sitting in traffic, or at your desk at work, or dinner with your mother-in-law. The idea behind this is to pinpoint the stressful moments of your life and deliberately replace the tension with relaxation.

One article that I'd like to read but haven't come across yet is one that explains why so many people do carry stress in their jaws as opposed to other parts of the body. I mean, does anyone out there clench their fists as a stress response? Or tighten their kneecaps? Not so much, right?