Why do my jaws feel a tightness when I wake up?


Most likely due to nighttime clenching or bruxing. Clenching occurs when we squeeze our jaws together with pressure. If teeth are clenched for a long period of time they can cause a feeling of "tightness".  Bruxing usually refers to patients moving their jaws with their teeth contacting repeatedly. Unfortunately when we sleep our jaws are not paralyzed and can be active in various ways. If you wake up only occasionally with this feeling it probably is due to a bad dream but if it happens frequently you should consider a visit to your dentist to be fitted with a night guard. Usually soft night guards seem to work the best for clenchers since they help distribute the force in such a way as to not harm the teeth and also probably help alleviate some of the stress on the masseter muscle.  Hard night guards usually better for most bruxers since they can be adjusted to create a more ideal glide path for their night time tooth excursions.

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2018/03/why-do-my-jaws-feel-tightness-when-i.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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