How to Tell If You're Clenching Your Jaw—And How to Stop
Credit - Illustration by TIME
When Dr. Priya Mistry asks people if they clench their jaws, they usually say no—yet she can see clear signs suggesting otherwise. So now, she words the question differently: Are they aware of their jaw-clenching tendencies? “That makes them stop and think,” says Mistry, a dentist in Vancouver, Wash., who specializes in jaw disorders.
If her patients still say no, Mistry coaches them to pay special attention to what they do when they’re stressed. “When you're focused at work, or when you're stuck in traffic, really monitor where your teeth are,” she says. “Are they together? Are they apart? Because if you're not talking to anyone—you’re just sitting in your car—your lips should be together and your teeth should be apart. They should not be touching. Our teeth aren’t meant to be in contact all day.”
Mistry estimates that “the majority” of her patients engage in some type of bruxism, which is the umbrella term for jaw clenching and teeth grinding. While the behaviors often overlap, grinding refers to shifting your jaw side to side or forward and backward, as though you're mashing something down. Clenching is squeezing your top and bottom jaw together and tightening the jaw muscles. You might do it while you’re awake or asleep—which means that it’s possible you’re completely unaware of the habit.
We asked dental experts what causes jaw clenching, how it affects oral health, and what to do to break the habit.
What causes jaw clenching?
Emotions like stress, anger, and anxiety play a significant role in jaw clenching. Think about it: When you’re really stressed or tense, you likely squeeze your fists together or notice your entire body has tightened, says Dr. Karin Grinbaum, an orthodontist with smiles + grins in New York City. Your jaw muscles coil up in the same way. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Grinbaum noticed a sharp increase in clenching-related damage, which she attributed to those years’ high stress levels. “Patients we didn't see for two years came back, and they had extreme wear and tear on their teeth,” she says. “It was a big difference.”
Read More: Why You’re Grinding Your Teeth—And How to Stop
There are other culprits, too. Alcohol abuse, caffeine, and nicotine can all increase jaw muscle activity, says Dr. Steven Katz, an endodontist in Beachwood, Ohio, and specialist member of the American Association of Endodontists. (If you’ve ever needed a root canal, it was probably performed by an endodontist.) That’s because they’re all stimulants that can trigger muscle activity, including jaw clenching. “If you tend to drink coffee, you know that a lot of people get real energy from it,” he says. “They’ll start clenching their jaw and put stress on the muscles.” Certain medications, like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, can also cause clenching, he adds.
So can sleep disorders. Research suggests that people with sleep apnea, for example, clench their jaws more overnight than those without the disorder. That relationship suggests that treating sleep apnea could improve clenching tendencies, the study authors concluded. “When a diagnosis is made, a lot of times dentists are interacting with physicians, and they take a two-pronged approach,” Katz says. “They’ll address both the sleep disorder and the jaw disorder at the same time,” which will ideally lead to sounder, clench-free snoozing.
The health consequences of jaw clenching
People who clench overnight often wake up with intense pain around their face, by their ears, or on the back of their neck. They might complain about frequent headaches. “When you clench, you're stretching all the muscles—even your neck muscles,” Grinbaum says. “People go to a chiropractor, and they don't know what's going on. Then we find out it’s because they’re clenching.”
How does that lightbulb moment happen? Sometimes, people's partners tell them they can feel—or even hear—them squeezing their jaw muscles, Grinbaum says. Or, you might find out at a dental check-up that you have flattened and worn tooth surfaces, or even microfractures in your teeth caused by repeatedly exerting pressure on the enamel. “Eventually, the teeth that are biting together most forcefully will weaken—and suddenly you bite into something and your tooth cracks, and you’re like, ‘What the heck?’” Mistry says. You might need a new filling or crown to protect it. As Mistry says, “Cracks in teeth are just like cracks in windshields—they spread over time.”
Read More: How Depression Can Affect Dental Hygiene
Chronic clenching can also lead to receding gums—which increases tooth sensitivity—as well as cracked roots that require extraction, and, in some cases, limited ability to open the jaw. That’s why it’s so important to get an early diagnosis. “If you’re a clencher, you should protect your teeth at any early stage,” Grinbaum says. “Don’t wait until you start breaking your teeth. People say, ‘Oh, I’m fine, I don't wake up with pain.’ Then years go by and they see their dentist, and they've already broken down so much of their teeth.” Addressing the problem early, she stresses, helps minimize risks and improve long-term outcomes.
How to stop clenching your jaw
Jaw clenching is a difficult habit to break, experts acknowledge, especially because you might not even realize you’re doing it. But it’s possible to overcome. Start with these tips:
Practice mindfulness
The more relaxed you are, the less likely you’ll be to clench your jaw. If you’re focused on what’s in front of you, your body will release tension—so make it a point to engage in calming activities. “It could be meditation, it could be yoga, it could be just not watching TV before you go to bed,” Grinbaum says. Deep breathing is another science-backed way to reduce stress and, by extension, cut back on clenching. Any time you notice yourself clenching, summon your favorite mindfulness technique.
Read More: How to Be Mindful if You Hate Meditating
Ensure your bite is even
A misaligned bite can increase the likelihood that you clench your jaw. “People tend to clench because their bite doesn't feel even, and they don't know what to do,” Grinbaum says. “So they squeeze down or grind.” Ask your dentist if that’s at the root of your problems; if so, you’ll likely be referred to an orthodontist for treatment like Invisalign or braces. “It’s not a guarantee that you’ll stop clenching or grinding, but it can ease the symptoms,” she says.
Get fitted for a night guard
Night guards are one of the best solutions for clenching, Katz says. Rather than buying one off the shelf at the store, get fitted for a customized guard; your dentist will make an impression of your teeth and design the mouthguard so it's specific to the way you bite. “It helps keep your teeth apart,” he says. “You’ve got this appliance in between,” acting as a cushion. While you might not completely stop clenching, you’ll likely find that it reduces the urge. Plus, over time, you’ll wear away the night guard’s hard plastic instead of your teeth.
Train yourself with the timer method
This is one of Mistry’s favorite ways to combat daytime clenching. For one week, set a timer on your phone that goes off every 20 minutes, she suggests. When you hear it dinging, check and see if you’re clenching your teeth. If you are, “You can either put your hand over your heart, take a deep breath, and tell yourself to stop, or you can snap your wrist with a rubber band,” she says. The latter is “the mean way to do it—negative reinforcement.” During the second week, adjust the timer so it goes off every 30 minutes, and when you enter the third week, change it to every 40 minutes, and so on. “By the time you get to every hour, you've pretty much trained yourself to stop clenching,” she says.
Consider muscle relaxers or botox
If your clenching is particularly severe, you might be prescribed a muscle relaxant that reduces muscle spasms in your face and jaw. “Just as you would expect, it relaxes the muscles of the jaw,” Katz says. And research suggests that when Botox is injected into the muscles that move the jaw, people clench less frequently and experience less pain than they did beforehand. Both are potential options to ask your doctor about.
Experiment with jaw-clenching exercises
Dr. Ryan Doyle, a dentist in Boise, Idaho, recommends several jaw exercises to help relieve his patients’ tension and clenching. First, he says, gently slide your lower jaw forward and hold for 10 seconds, then release. Repeat 10 times; doing so helps loosen the jaw muscles. Another option: Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth for 10 to 15 seconds to relax your jaw, and then release. Do 10 reps, Doyle advises.
The key to jaw-clenching exercises, he adds, is doing them regularly, at least two to three times every day. “Be gentle and go slowly,” he says. It can take weeks of consistency to retrain your jaw muscles, but many of Doyle’s patients report significant improvements in just a month. “The good news is these techniques are simple, free, and can have lasting benefits,” he says.
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