Tooth grinding at night, also known as Bruxism, is a very common sleep problem that affects up to 75% of adults at some point in their lives.  Fortunately, dentists regularly notice the signs of tooth wear and will prescribe their patients a nighttime mouth guard to effectively cover and protect your teeth and keep your teeth healthy for life.

While nighttime mouth guards are effective in protecting your teeth, they do no treat sleep apnea or snoring.  In fact, mouth guards can actually amplify your sleep apnea. Recent studies have found tooth grinding rarely occurs by itself. In fact, sleep apnea was found to have the greatest association with those who grind their teeth at night.[1]

How do you know if you have sleep apnea?  If you suffer from any of the following symptoms, you may have untreated sleep apnea.

• Waking up after a full nights sleep unrefreshed, feeling tired
• Dry mouth, sore throat and/or gastric reflux
• Morning or evening headaches
• Loud snoring
• Waking up at night to urinate
• Sweating while sleeping
• Weight Gain
• Short term memory problems
• High blood pressure
• Mood swings and relationship problems

Treating sleep apnea will make a tremendous improvement in the quality of your life.  There are several options available to people that grind their teeth and have sleep apnea. A CPAP or Oral Appliance Therapy are both effective treatment options. Consult with your physician to start treating your sleep apnea and make a difference in your life.

by MORGAN CHESKY / KVUE News Follow: @MorganC_KVUE kvue.com Posted on November 11, 2011 at 10:00 PM Updated Friday, Nov 11 at 10:42 PM On the road every minute of every day, they are the traveling tons of steel and rubber that are difficult to miss. Only on May 7, 2010, Wanda and John Lindsay never saw the oncoming truck…..Continue

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois is dedicated to relieving pain and suffering from patients experiencing complex symptoms of TMD (temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction) and chronic headaches. Signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorder vary in their presentation and can be very complex. Often the symptoms will involve more than one of the numerous TMJ components: muscles, joints, nerves and the teeth.

What are some of the TMD/Migraine headaches symptoms you should be looking for?

• Pain around the Ears
• Jaw, Tooth, Face, Neck and/or Should Pain
• Clicking or Popping of the Jaw
• Grinding of the Teeth
• Ringing or Fullness in the Ears
• Migraine Headaches or any other type of Headaches
• Sinus Pressure and Lack of Draining

There are 236 types of headaches.  The large majority of these headaches have a jaw joint or muscle component.  Our treatments reduce the excitability of specific cranial nerves.  By lowering this threshold the likelihood and intensity of mirgraines or headaches are diminished.

Is TMD  Curable?

Although TMD can become a chronic problem associated with permenant damage from trauma to the head, neck or TMD joint, the symptoms can be eliminated through proper professional care. The objective of our treatment is to gently and naturally bring the head, neck, jaw and bite into neuromuscular alignment.  In other words, the head literally teeters on the top of the cervical spine with the center of gravity forward to the spine.  It is tethered to the body by muscles of the joint systems.  Functional and resting head posture is dependant upon the proper tension in these muscles.  Movement of the jaw is not only related to the muscles for chewing,  but also head and neck position.

Here’s what is involved in our TMD treatment process:

A thorough evaluation and patient history, then a physical examination to discover the muscle hot spots or trigger points.  We will perform a bite evaluation using computerized equipment.  Then we use a series of office treatments including state of the art equipment and massage therapy.  Also included will be very important take home instruments to help you manage and divert early signs of headaches and migraines.

Our goal is to help you be pain free and improve the quality of your life!

If you have any further questions, or would like to schedule an appointment to meet our team and get started living pain free, please feel free to contact our TMD Director, Cathy, at 630-369-5508.

Do you wonder how well you are sleeping?

Is your room set up for the best night of sleep possible?  We often give tips on how to arrange your room in the best way for optimal sleep.

Today, one of our oral appliance patients at Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois sent us the following link to share with our others that suffer from poor sleep.

BBC Sleep Site

Try out the short test to give you a sleep profile.  They make excellent suggestions to help you change your habits to give you a better night’s sleep.

Not sure if you are alert enough to get behind the steering wheel? Scroll down the BBC site, and try out the Sheep Dash test. This VERY short test will give you your reaction to stimulus time and might make you rethink getting behind the wheel.

If you snore, or suffer from sleep apnea, I urge you to see your physician and discuss your personal situation.  Sleep is essential to your health, when you take the time to improve your quality of sleep, you will improve your overall health.

There are alternative options to a CPAP machine.

Many sleep apnea sufferers are not given an option.

If you are like Mike, or Molly, visit our website:  www.TiredofSnoring.com and learn more about the #1 alternative to CPAP – Oral Appliance Therapy.

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois would love to help you and your bed partner get a good night’s sleep, CPAP-Free.