Have you noticed you are grinding your teeth at night? You aren’t alone.
Dentists say they’ve seen an uptick and the pandemic is to blame. NBC 6 anchor Sheli Muñiz spoke to Dr. Rick Mars with The Dental Care Group.
“This is huge. Think about it. Everybody is under more stress than they were nine months ago, and it shows in people's stress and people's sleep and that's what people do they clench and grind while they're sleeping at night,” said Dr. Mars.
SHELI: Why is it so bad to clench or grind?
DR. MARS: Think about the human body -- we're made to maintain a certain amount of stress with certain things. You know, we were made to chew and eat and do the things that we do, and when we add additional stresses to our teeth, that's when trouble starts. I tell you not a day goes by that we do not see someone come in with damage. My first patient today snapped a crown. One day, we had four people break teeth so badly that their teeth had to get extracted.
SHELI: How do we know if we’re doing it at night?
DR. MARS: You might feel stress, you might feel tightness or headaches in the morning. A nightguard is great if you have it. You have to wear it because it's not doing you any good when it's sitting in the drawer, so we have to wear it. If you feel like you're grinding your teeth or clenching, don't ignore it. If you feel like you are doing it, go see your dentist. The dentist is about the safest place you can be right now.
