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Mini: Teeth Grinding · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do Mini. I am
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  Speaker 1: your host, Abraham and I'm your host Shane. We are
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  Speaker 1: a psychology podcast. We talk about the things that humans
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  Speaker 1: and non human animals do, and on Mondays we release
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  Speaker 1: these short form episodes that are just a quick ten
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  Speaker 1: to fifteen minute dive into a thing that humans or
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  Speaker 1: non human animals do. As I said, and that's what
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  Speaker 1: this is, and it's short, so we call it a
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  Speaker 1: mini It's a Mini Monday. And that's all the things
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  Speaker 1: that you need to know as we start into this thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes, es yes.
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  Speaker 1: And Shane is here to agree with me a lot,
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  Speaker 1: which is lovely full support. Yeah. So if you enjoy
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  Speaker 1: what you hear today and would like to support us,
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  Speaker 1: then you can join us on Patreon, leave us a rating,
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  Speaker 1: and review, like subscribe, tell a friend. I'll talk more
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  Speaker 1: about that at the end of this discussion, but I
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  Speaker 1: think we will dive right in so that we can
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  Speaker 1: let you get on and go on with your day
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  Speaker 1: and do the stuff that you do and whatever. We're
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  Speaker 1: talking about. This special fish that grinds its teeth, it's
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  Speaker 1: a Pokemon fish. And it's called bruxes No, bruxfish, Bruckish, bruckish,
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  Speaker 1: that's what it is. Sorry, I met, I butchered the
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  Speaker 1: whole thing so badly. It's okay, that's what the minis
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  Speaker 1: are for. That's right. Yeah, we just we speak off
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  Speaker 1: the cuff a little bit more. No, what we're actually
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  Speaker 1: talking about is grinding our teeth together. This is a
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  Speaker 1: thing that people do. It is a very unsettling sounds
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  Speaker 1: to put it nicely, and it also comes with a
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  Speaker 1: myriad of other problems that we'll discuss. But yes, today
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about teeth grinding.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so we're gonna talk about teeth grinding, what it is,
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  Speaker 2: what we know about it, and what you can do
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  Speaker 2: about it if you do.
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  Speaker 1: It beautiful, So let's get into it. Of course we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about what it is because we have
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  Speaker 1: to define our terms. So teeth grinding, which the technical
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  Speaker 1: term for is brooxism, which is spelled be are uxism,
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  Speaker 1: bruxism m h. And it's kind of what it sounds like.
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  Speaker 1: It's when you squeeze or rub your teeth together. It
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  Speaker 1: has this sort of marbles running through gears sound. It's horrible.
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  Speaker 1: Most people actually do it here or there sometimes, particularly
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  Speaker 1: when you're under a lot of stress. However, there are
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  Speaker 1: some people who do it habitually. They do it a lot,
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  Speaker 1: and if you do it a lot, you will start
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  Speaker 1: to experience complications and adverse symptoms as an outcome of
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  Speaker 1: doing that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is different than like clenching your jaw. Right,
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  Speaker 2: Clenching your jaw is just kind of like you're like
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  Speaker 2: tightening the muscles in your jaw and you're clenching your
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  Speaker 2: teeth together. Clenching versus bruxism is different because bruxism is
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  Speaker 2: like you're actually rubbing or grinding or like pushing your
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  Speaker 2: teeth together, and that creates some different issues.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So people who grind their teeth a lot make
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  Speaker 2: experience jaw pain, tooth sensitivity, headaches, tiniitis or tindadus, flattened,
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  Speaker 2: loose or fractured teeth, worn enamel that exposes innercomponents of
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  Speaker 2: the tooth, jaw, neck or face soreness, earaches, pain when eating,
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  Speaker 2: difficulty opening your mouth, and sleep problems if you do
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  Speaker 2: it in your sleep. And this is the part of
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  Speaker 2: the episode where we que like the band playing and
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  Speaker 2: like the medicine that's like named after something really weird,
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  Speaker 2: for like those medicine commercials.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know it's like it's like if you experience
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  Speaker 2: any of these things, Dad, like that's now you see
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  Speaker 2: a blues band playing in the background. If I'd like
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  Speaker 2: for you to picture that after we read that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, there's those the ads. In the United States,
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  Speaker 1: drug companies can advertise directly to customers, and they'll often
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  Speaker 1: say something like this drug will help your eyes stay
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  Speaker 1: nice and moist during the day. Side effects include death,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I, yeah, it.
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  Speaker 2: Would be this long laundry list of things. It's like, oh, cool, great,
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  Speaker 2: so it makes me it makes my eyes moist, but
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  Speaker 2: it makes me it makes me feel terrible all the time. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: And then it's like, but the juxtaposition is also that
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  Speaker 2: there's like some good time being had by everybody in
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  Speaker 2: the in the commercial, like they're in a family out
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  Speaker 2: or they're in a concert, or they're skydiving or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: Like there's always something where they're just having the best
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  Speaker 2: time in the world. After you hear all of these
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  Speaker 2: side effects, all.
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  Speaker 1: Of the I have seen all of those things and
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  Speaker 1: these ads, that is definitely yes, Yeah, man, we got
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  Speaker 1: so of track when we're supposed to be doing many. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: as far as people who do this, it does tend
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  Speaker 1: to happen more in younger children. It can happen all
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  Speaker 1: the way up through adulthood. I knew someone who goes
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  Speaker 1: well into their sixties who is doing this. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of people do grow out of it, but it's an
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  Speaker 1: estimated that about thirty percent of people grind their teeth habitually,
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  Speaker 1: but up to fifty percent of people with obstructive sleep
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  Speaker 1: apnea or OSA will grind their teeth at night, according
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  Speaker 1: to a twenty twenty three study in the Journal of
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  Speaker 1: Clinical Sleep Medicine. So like, if you have OSA, that's
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  Speaker 1: like in a very high risk factor for grinding your
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  Speaker 1: teeth at night.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And now there are two types of teeth
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  Speaker 2: grinding asleep in a week. People who grind their teeth
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  Speaker 2: while asleep often don't know that they're doing it unless
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  Speaker 2: they have a sleep partner who know notifies them, or
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  Speaker 2: once the consequences of sleep grinding start becoming more obvious,
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  Speaker 2: which may include a dentist alerting them to this fact,
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  Speaker 2: they may say something like do you grind your teeth?
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  Speaker 2: And then in the person will say, I don't think so,
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  Speaker 2: and then they'll be like, do you grind your teeth
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  Speaker 2: in your sleep? Probably here's some evidence of that of
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  Speaker 2: some nature.
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  Speaker 1: You know, yes, exactly, and I grind my teeth when
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  Speaker 1: I hear ads. Okay, we are back. So we're just
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  Speaker 1: talking about the fact that people who do this in
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  Speaker 1: their sleep may not notice it. There is actually a
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  Speaker 1: higher prevalenum of teeth grinding among neurodivergent people that will
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  Speaker 1: grind while they're awake, sometimes at a very high frequency.
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  Speaker 1: Others who grind their teeth awake may or may not
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  Speaker 1: be aware that they're doing it, And you might ask yourself,
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  Speaker 1: how do you not know you're grinding your teeth when
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  Speaker 1: you're awake. Well, it's really not that different from other
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  Speaker 1: habits that we start to develop and we don't notice,
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  Speaker 1: such as like chewing on our fingernails or picking out
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  Speaker 1: our fingernails, or skin around our fingernails, or like other
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  Speaker 1: affectations we develop, just like the little things that we
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  Speaker 1: do that we don't notice that we do. Some people
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  Speaker 1: will like hold like their mouth and kind of a
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  Speaker 1: kind of crooked smile, and they don't know that they're
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  Speaker 1: doing that. Some people will like have an eyebrow raised
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  Speaker 1: that they do really commonly. They don't notice they're doing it,
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  Speaker 1: but it's just one of those things. And so even
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  Speaker 1: though the sensation is there, when you do it habitually,
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  Speaker 1: you kind of just do it and may not notice.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't notice that I was picking at the skin
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  Speaker 2: around my nails until you just read that sentence, and
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  Speaker 2: so now I am going to be mindful of that.
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  Speaker 2: So thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: You're welcome. Now.
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  Speaker 2: It's not clear why people grind their teeth, but there
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  Speaker 2: are some commonly identified risk factors, stressed and anxiety being
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  Speaker 2: one of them, which can include mental health conditions such
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  Speaker 2: as ADHD, major depressive disorder, and generalize anxiety disorder. People
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  Speaker 2: who smoke, drink, or consume up to six cups of
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  Speaker 2: coffee are more than twice as likely to grind their teeth.
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  Speaker 2: People with dementia, Parkinson's, gastrosophageal reflux disorder or gurd epilepsy,
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  Speaker 2: and night terrors are also those folks are more likely
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  Speaker 2: to grind their tee if they've got one of those.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So, whether or not, it's like teeth grinding is
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  Speaker 1: a cause, a effect, a corollary condition of some sort
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  Speaker 1: it's just not clear. We tend to see that it
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  Speaker 1: happens more in those cases. Probably it's like all of
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  Speaker 1: those things sort of hang together. Yeah, makes the most
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  Speaker 1: sense where it's like if you have Parkinson's, you also
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  Speaker 1: are more likely to grind your teeth. It's not super clear,
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  Speaker 1: but we know that there is a correlation there right.
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  Speaker 1: As far as what you can do about this, it
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  Speaker 1: does depend a bit on the risk factors, like why
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  Speaker 1: you're grinding your teeth in the first place, and addressing
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  Speaker 1: those can be really helpful. So, for example, mindfulness and
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  Speaker 1: stress reduction can help people for whom stress is a
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  Speaker 1: primary antecedent factor that leads to grinding teeth, for those
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  Speaker 1: who tend to consume a lot of caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine.
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  Speaker 1: If you reduce those, that can help mitigate or reduce
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  Speaker 1: how much you're grinding your teeth, if that's relevant for
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  Speaker 1: the person. There is some evidence that exercise can help
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  Speaker 1: reduce this bruxism as well. Possibly it's unclear how exactly,
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  Speaker 1: but it does seem like it's the case. It's possible
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  Speaker 1: that it's through the analgesic effect of just overall reducing
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  Speaker 1: stress and depressive symptoms reducing endorphins. That can be the
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  Speaker 1: case for some people. And then, of course, if you
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  Speaker 1: have OSA, as we mentioned, if you address that with
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  Speaker 1: the appropriate interventions that can also support and reduce teeth grinding.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, now, if you're still grinding your teeth. While you're
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  Speaker 2: still grinding, mouthguards are actually a helpful way to prevent
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  Speaker 2: the worst damage. CBT has also been shown to be
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  Speaker 2: effective for some people, likely in the way it affects
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  Speaker 2: their ability to manage stress or identify those stressors and whatnot.
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  Speaker 2: For a weig teeth grinding, Habit reversal training can help
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  Speaker 2: reduce this as well. Muscle relaxers can help, and some
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  Speaker 2: people even get botox injections to their jaw muscles to
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  Speaker 2: relax them and prevent them from grinding, particularly at night.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and those like research behind all of this, there's
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  Speaker 1: evidence that there's actual studies I found that show the
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  Speaker 1: habit reversal training can be helpful. Again, this is mostly
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  Speaker 1: for a wake I would actually guess that you might
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  Speaker 1: be able to use habit reversal training for sleep grinding
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  Speaker 1: as well. It'd be probably a similar process for people
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  Speaker 1: who experience it's nocturnal and uysis, which means bed wetting.
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  Speaker 1: Mm hm. They can actually just if they notice when
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  Speaker 1: it's about to happen, then prevent it. That can help
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  Speaker 1: people gain control over their bladder. In some cases, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: it's just a muscle thing. People lose control of their
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  Speaker 1: muscles it happens, right. There is research the back all
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  Speaker 1: of these up to suggest that at least for some
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  Speaker 1: people and their given situation, that might be an effective
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  Speaker 1: intervention to help reduce teeth grinding.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: And then as we said, there is a pokemon.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's ugly. Bruxish is a Pokemon from Sun
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  Speaker 2: and Moon. It is brightly colored, it has huge teeth.
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  Speaker 2: It's known as the gnashing Pokemon. And it said something
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  Speaker 2: about the ripples in the water that occur when it
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  Speaker 2: grinds its teeth actually produce like a sparkling sunshine illusion
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  Speaker 2: if you will when you see it. So, yeah, there's
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  Speaker 2: like a literal Pokemon named after tooth grinding.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, which that's what you're here for.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it does have an evolution right now. By
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  Speaker 2: the way too, it's like a one stop shop Pokemon.
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  Speaker 2: It's like just an ugly fish.
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  Speaker 1: I bet you were not expecting that in this episode,
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  Speaker 1: all right, bries, that is teeth grinding. If you'd like
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  Speaker 1: to tell us your thoughts on this, provide any helpful insights,
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  Speaker 1: or even some criticisms, we're happy to hear those. You
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  Speaker 1: can reach us directly by emailing us at info at
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: wwdwwdpodcast dot com. We are also on the social media
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: platforms and we do look forward to hearing from you
• 10:24
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• 10:26
  Speaker 1: like to support us, as I mentioned, you can join
• 10:28
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• 10:31
  Speaker 1: some other bonus content, and I'll read your name on
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: our list of supporters that I read at the end
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of all of our full length discussions which come out
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: on Wednesdays, So you can join us there. If you'd
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: like to hear us say your name and our dulcet tones. Yes,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I'd like to say thank you for my team of
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: people that help make this happen. Writing in fact checking
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: from Shane and myself. Thank you for recording with me today. Shane, Hey, anytime.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Our social media coordinator is Emma Wilson and the person
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: who stitches together are gobbledegook into an Intelligible Podcast is
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: justin who's really good at doing audio things and is wonderful.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: And he's really good at being handsome too, quite quite handsome.
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  Speaker 1: You have to take our word for it. I think
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: that that's I think that's what I have to say
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  Speaker 1: about this. Is there anything that I missed or you'd
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  Speaker 1: like to add before we wrap up?
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  Speaker 2: No? I don't think so.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Thank you all for listening. This is Shane
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: or this is not Shane. This is Abraham, and.
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  Speaker 2: This is Abraham, I mean Shane.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Why we Do what we Do Mini is out.
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  Speaker 2: Bye.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to Why We Do What We Do.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: going to WWD WWD.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Podcast dot com.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we hope you have an awesome
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  Speaker 2: day