I gotta stop grinding my teeth, or at least do it in private…
Most people who know me would tell you that I’m a pretty laid back individual and that I hide my stress well, really well. I am in no way immune from stress, I just tend to push it out of my mind and divert my attention to other things. Like other people my stress builds up and must be released eventually. My two favorite (most common) ways of relieving stress are:
- Biting my finger nails
- Grinding my teeth
The first is a habit I’ve been trying to kick for at least a decade. (Seriously a decade? Wow, I just realized I’ve been trying to kick this habit for a decade and still haven’t done it, so much for self control and will power).
The second is something I really don’t mind. I only grind my teeth in my sleep and almost never do I recognize what I’m doing. I’ve accepted the fact that grind my teeth and I am prefectly content to spend the rest of my sleepy hours grinding away on my molars like they’re granite mill-stones. In the end I will end up destroying my teeth and probably need replacements but I’m banking that by the time that happens new teeth will be grown in labs.
Long ago I accepted that I grind my teeth. I’ve even started taking a little pride in the fact that I have a stress release which happens automatically and in private. Like a kettle whistles when the water boils, I start grinding when my levels of stress reach some critical level and then when I’ve ground off enough enamel I calm down and give my jaw a break.
Needless to say my wife isn’t as fond of this habit as I am. Frequently I wake up with her holding my jaw saying, “Stop grinding your teeth!” Until this happened the first time I had no idea that teeth grinding could be so loud. She sleeps just fine through my snoring, but about 10 seconds after I start grinding my teeth she is awakened by what she describes as nails on a chalkboard (really its enamel on enamel though).
So I’ve got to stop grinding my teeth, or at least do it in private. I wonder if I can. I’ve been fighting to stop biting my nails for what this post revealed to me to be a decade. And I bite my nails when I’m awake, I make a conscious decision to bite my nails; however, I grind my teeth when I’m asleep when willpower and choice has gone out the window.
Maybe if I can find other ways to release stress I will stop grinding my teeth and hopefully my poor wife might get a few more winks of her precious pregnant sleep… Any suggestions?
I’ve totally got your solution. You should follow my lead and let your teeth grinding cause you to develop temporomandibular joint disorder—the dreaded TMJ. The doctor will then recommend a painful and expensive surgery that you can’t afford emotionally or financially. Then voilà. You’ll stop grinding.
Or you’ll keep grinding and need the surgery.
I’m still working on getting over the nail bitting thing too.
Wow if i JAG officer to be bites his nails then maybe I shouldn’t worry about it too much…
Haha. The image of Aubrey holding your sleeping-but-grinding jaw and saying, “stop grinding!” is great. So funny. Have I mentioned how much I like your wife? I told Micah the other day that if I marry a girl that really likes your wife then I’ll know I’ve done well.
So you may already know this, but enough people grind their teeth in their sleep that there is a sub-industry of companies making night time “teeth guards” for people like you. They’re like comfortable mouth guards. You can go on grinding without damaging your teeth and without waking Aubrey.
Just google “teeth grinding mouth guard”.