A common habit among kids, teens and even adults is to grind your teeth at night or during the day when they get nervous/stressed (Take a moment to think of whether or not you do this, and if you do, pay attention to this post!). This is definitely not something you want to do! The consequences for grinding include: a sore jaw in the morning, lack of decent sleep as this action will often wake you up, potentially sensitive teeth, and the worst part, the wearing away of the enamel on the top of your teeth. This is especially bad. Enamel is the outer layer of your teeth. When you grind this layer down it can, first off, make you way more prone to cavities, and second, grinding it down too far will expose the cluster of sensitive nerves in your teeth and you will be in a world of hurt!
Here are a couple of things you can do if you already grind your teeth and know it:
1. Wear a mouth guard at night. This is sort of like a big rubber retainer. You can fit it over your braces if you have braces, but it just protects the top of your teeth when you sleep. They make special ones for this problem.
2. Buy toothpaste that has enamel boosting effects. The goal is to try to strengthen the enamel you still have left.
In fact those two things are a good idea to do even if you don’t think you grind your teeth because a lot of people do so without even realizing it!
-Amanda and Erik
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