What Is the Difference Between Bruxism and TMJ Disorder?

Bruxism is a term that describes a condition where a person is teeth grinding or clenching. While it can happen at any time of the day, it usually occurs during sleep. It is a parafunctional activity that every person may experience at some point in their life.

It is considered a habit that can affect 10 to 50 percent of the population depending on the study that you look at. Bruxism is a subconscious activity so many people do not realize that they are doing it. Since biting force is 6 times stronger during sleep than waking hours, most damage is usually caused during night time.

While there is no one thing that may cause bruxism, it may be attributed to stress, suppressed anger, aggressive personality, abnormal alignment of teeth, prescription drugs, certain sleep disorders, alcohol, stimulants like caffeine and anxiety.

When you disrupt your sleeping pattern due to stress, you may experience teeth grinding or clenching. This is where a lot of research is taking place as stress is believed to be the most common reason for bruxism. Also, if a person is angry, frustrated or is aggressive by nature, he may experience teeth grinding.

TMJ Disorder (also known as Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) is a condition where a person may have acute or chronic inflammation of the temporomandibular joint. People who have this may experience difficulty eating or biting certain foods, headaches that usually occur in the morning, loss of hearing, jaw pain or tenderness, neck or shoulder pain, feeling of dizziness, clicking/popping sounds when opening the mouth and pain in the face.

There may very well be a relationship between stress and TMJ. When we hold on to stress, there is a tight clenching of the jaw and the muscles and face muscles. This usually leads to teeth grinding. However, the symptoms of TMJ could be reduced by removing stressful areas of your life.

So if you think you may be experiencing this, you will want to act quickly to get the problem resolved. The longer you wait on it, the more issues you may have later. While nobody can tell you the exact course of action, it would be best to educate yourself so that you can make the right decisions. You can see your dentist or doctor for more information. Also, there are several ebooks online that will provide more information about bruxism and TMJ disorders.