Muscle tensions

Tooth grinding and also tooth pressing can cause damage to the enamel of the tooth, to the muscles and also the joints of your jaw. For those who grind or press teeth at night, it is best to wear a splint during night time. During day time it is necessary to watch yourself and give yourself a feedback to break the habit of grinding and pressing with your teeth.

Grinding and pressing with your teeth, stress and poor posture, e.g. at work at your computer, can lead to muscle tension and therefore to headaches. Tensions can be often remedied by the following measures:

• Massaging (kneading) and acupressure (when putting pressure with your fingers on aching muscle areas) of the masticatory muscle (i.e. cheek and temple) and of the neck muscles.
• Stretching of neck muscles:
  • Lay your head to the side and a bit to the front, then move your shoulder/arm in opposite direction downwards; stretch carefully for 15 seconds up to two minutes and let go slowly.
  • Tilt your head to the front, and then put some light pressure with your fingertips on your head to increase the stretching. Repeat several times a day.
  
  Important: should there be any orthopedic problems, please ask your doctor before carrying out any of these exercises.
  
  
• Stretching of the muscles of the torso: stretch out your arm to the side, place your hand on a wall and rotate your torso forwards.
• In your daily routine: One sided postures need compensation, for example by mobilizing your muscles in between times or by specific counter movements. E.g. who sits all day in front of the computer bent forward, needs to bend backward every now and then to mobilize the muscles regularly, e.g. with circle movements of the head, arms or shoulders.
• The following could help even more: application of warmth (hot water bottle), physiotherapy, visits to the sauna, pain plasters, ointment, pain killers (e.g. Paracetamol, Ibuprofen).

If there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us for further information when next visiting us!