TMD, Grinding, Sleep Apnoea & Snoring

TMD stands for temporomandibular dysfunction as is an umbrella term that encompasses jaw joint pain, clicky jaw joints, muscle pain or muscle dysfunction in the jaw area. Marius Street Family dental have clinicians that have undergone extensive further training to treat TMD - our reception team can direct you to who is best for your condition.

Teeth grinding can result in damage to your teeth ranging from mild wear to severe cases of chips, loose teeth and extreme tooth and enamel wear. Additional effects can include sensitivity to heat/ cold and damage to restorations such as fillings. Often, a ‘grinder’ is not aware of the problem as we typically grind our teeth whilst asleep at night.

Teeth grinding should not be ignored, as whilst damage may not be apparent now, over time the continual grinding effect will wear away the teeth and cause crack lines/fracture. As most grinding occurs during your sleep, the most common solution is the use of a mouth guard called a splint to prevent damage against the teeth whilst grinding.

Dr. Stephenson has undergone additional training to learn about sleep apnoea and how to screen for it. Sleep apnoea is only one of the many disorders classified as ‘sleep breathing disorders’. Sleep apnoea is caused by a collapse of the airway or obstruction of the airway. 85% of the time (in adults) it is the base of the tongue that falls backwards and blocks the airway.

Signs and symptoms include: Wear on the teeth from grinding (but you probably won’t know because it’s at night), headaches or muscle soreness, daytime drowsiness – feeling tired all the time, snoring, high blood pressure, waking up/going to the bathroom through the night, reflux, diabetes/thyroid/hormone issues.

‍Treatment - Mandibular Advancement Splint (MAS)

If you do not have sleep apnoea, a standard splint is appropriate to protect your teeth from damage. However, a splint will make sleep apnoea worse, so it is critical we rule this out first. For OSA some patients find a special airway splint called a mandibular advancement splint can help them a lot. This holds the lower jaw forward out of the airway. The tongue and throat muscles attach into the lower jaw and these are what often cause obstruction of the airway at night.

Snoring, audible breathing and grinding in children is not normal. Sleep breathing disorder is not just a condition of older people. Children suffer too. Often it is enlarged adenoids or tonsils that block their airway at night. The symptoms are different with children. Instead of being ‘tired all the time’, children can show signs of ADHD, behavioural issues and difficulty focusing. This is as children are self-stimulating and become hyperactive when they are tired.

Children with sleep apnoea are 9x more likely to be in the bottom 10% of their class. We strongly recommend a screening and we can give a referral to the appropriate doctors (eg ENT) if we feel it is necessary.