>In addition, the researchers are investigating a gel or solution with the engineered peptide to treat hypersensitive teeth. This problem results from weakness in the enamel that makes the underlying dentin and nerves more vulnerable to heat or cold. Most common products currently on the market can put a layer of organic material on the tooth and numb nerve endings with potassium nitrate, but the relief is only temporary. The peptide, however, addresses the problem permanently at its source by strengthening the enamel.
I want this so badly.
I've never had a cavity despite my poor dental hygiene habits and lack of dental practice visits but apparently I suffer from bruxism that can make half of my teeth hurt whenever I bite on anything harder than a wet noodle. Just now I brushed my teeth with a pain-numbing toothpaste and just the act of brushing my teeth made them hurt. Although sometimes I can go for some time without pain, it's been pretty much a constant in my life for the last years.
Have you looked into botox shots at all? When I tell you my life changed completely from a 15 minute botox appointment with an oral surgeon I am not exaggerating in the least. I’d had no idea what it felt like to live without bruxism - not only were my teeth better but my neck stopped aching, my back muscles stopped spasming, and I stopped getting migraines entirely. I had gotten debilitating migraines once every month or two since I was a kid and had been taking pretty serious medicine to prevent and combat them for the better part of a decade. They stopped completely, cold turkey, after my first botox appointment. And I had no idea that was even a possible side effect(? benefit?) of the botox procedure at the time!
I’m sure I’ve written about it here before but it was wild how much the botox changed my quality of life to the point it was actually really upsetting to me at first. I had struggled for so long and I had to fight with insurance so much to get the botox covered (it was off-label at the time for TMJ, I think it’s approved now) and there had been a safe, simple, and highly effective solution that I sort of stumbled into out of sheer desperation, a lot of good luck, and a series of referrals on referrals on referrals.
Oh yeah, and much to my dentist & orthodontist’s delight, I stopped breaking my retainer in my sleep, stopped needing a mouth guard at night, and stopped needing special toothpaste for my sensitive teeth. But those improvements pale in comparison to the literal whole-body benefits.
I know it’s not going to be a magic bullet solution for everyone the way it was for me but the improvement was so night and day I have an almost compulsive need to bring it up whenever someone mentions they suffer from bruxism or migraines just in case it can put an end to their misery, too. So if you haven’t looked into it yet the potential upside makes it well worthwhile to bring it up with your doctor and/or dentist.
Or, if you happen to be in Massachusetts, give Dr. David Keith at MGH a call.
I don’t know anything about this ailment or this solution but I’m glad to read this story.
I’ve found other examples of ailments with relatively inexpensive or simple solutions that are unknown to many.
I think many people suffer to varying degrees simply because they don’t know some important piece of information.
Sometimes historical solutions overwhelm new or lesser known yet effective solutions and this prevents people from living better lives.
Sort of like how stack overflow is overrun with answers conflating jquery with JavaScript.
With health stuff, I think sometimes the friction and expense of seeing a professional prevents people from getting answers. Though sometimes these folks don’t have the most up to date or best information either.
It is almost like we need wikihow style answers for a far broader spread over life’s many questions.
In some cases like parent’s, this can be life-changing information. And while the procedure is not free the knowledge that motivates one to find a way to greatly improve one’s own outlook is.
Interesting solution! I had massive issues with my posture, neck, hips and even feet, which i know, sounds crazy, but all came from my bruxism and bite. If you have bad posture and maloclussion, look into forward head posture, lots of studies on it now.
I have not done botox. What i did was jaw relaxation exersices and physiotherapy. Its helped a lot.
I have a compulsive need to bring this up as well, I didnt understand it all was happening to me and starting to treat it has changed my life.
I asked my wife (an oral surgeon) if she does this procedure for the same issue and she says yes. Happy to hear this is common practice for oral surgeons.
Back problems, bruxism, migraines - have you had yourself tested for some bacterial infection like e.g. lyme or bartonella? Just to have that excluded before treating symptoms.
I've had all of this for years (more like decades) plus different additional symptoms and got diagnosed last year. The ongoing treatment is not for the faint of heart but symptoms are on the retreat since.
PS: I've grown up in rural Germany and also had close contact to cattle as a kid etc.
I've had bruxism my entire life. Headaches, TMJ, and jaw pain are what I've experienced.
Most people have back problems, so that could just be concomitant.
I used to live in an area with endemic Lyme disease, but contracting that would've presented all kind of other horrible symptoms.
I also have SCDS, likely from pushing too forcefully on the loo, loud noises, air pressure extreme changes, high blood pressure/swings, and congenital thinness as confirmed on CT. The fix require a middle fossa craniotomy approach.
My MD offers lab tests for Chlamydia, Bartonella, different strains of Borellia, Yersinia, Ehrlichia amongst others, she also offers tests for HPV and Mono. To be honest: I have no clue what is causing which exact symptom, it's also often the immune response / inflammation that's the reason for the pain and other problems.
Edit: forgot to answer your question. yes, in my case it was episodes of joint pain, neck stiffness, lightheadedness, heavy fatigue, numb fingertips, skin problems, heavy mood swings and more with symptom free times in between for more than 20 years - often triggered by stress but not always. And the symptoms got worse with me growing older.
The condition is not easy to diagnose and you need the right specialist, there's lots of snake oil out there and treatment is longterm and without a guarantee to cure 100%.
My general practitioner who is also an internist was overwhelmed ("deal with it, you're getting older" diagnosed only psychosomatic reasons etc). A friend of mine suggested an MD who specializes in such infections, I later changed to a Doc nearer to where I live. Got the address from Deutsche Borreliose Gesellschaft, a german registry for lyme.
MDs who get arrogant, lazy, or gaslight patients into thinking they're "crazy" are no longer practicing medicine but are rationing care, sticking their heads in the sand, and hands in the air.
One ENT told me I had "allergies" when I said I could hear my left eye move in my head and he pretended he didn't find an Weber test extreme left lateralization. Another two ENTs found I have repairable SCDS as confirmed by high resolution CT and audiological testing.
Doctors who don't listen to you or BS you cannot be trusted with your life. Dump them and don't feel bad about it because they gave up on you first. There is no reward for loyalty. It's only your life.
>Would such an infection be able to explain chronic symptoms over a 1-2 year period?
These symptoms specifically: some at least, I believe. Lyme disease is fairly well known for having severe lasting effects though, years of issues even after treatment is not uncommon at all.
Thank you so much for posting this! I’ve ground my teeth badly my whole life, it’s starting to get to the bad parts of my teeth and gums receding etc etc despite retainers, and I’ll definitely look into this!
You may also want to check your neck posture. I've found that, in my case, using laptops invariably leads to bruxism due to poor ergonomics.
Quitting laptops and using a proper desktop, or a laptop stand plus an external keyboard, was like toggling off the bruxism switch. It went off in a week. Plus, I stopped suffering from horrible migraines.
In order to repair your enamel a bit and keep what you have you may want to try toothpastes and creams that contain enamel-like ceramics. I've had spectacular results with a combination of calcium salts, fluoride and hydroxyapatite and ceramics (Novamin). There are better things to add up into the mix right now, such as self-assembling peptide scaffolds.
I don’t know the muscles but maybe someone here can chime in with the specific names from this very unscientific description: on each side of my head kind of near my temples and on each side of my jaw near the corner(?) bone. (Really regretting never having taken an anatomy class...) If you put your finger on your earlobe and pull it maybe an inch forward I would say it was about there. My doctor kindly used some sort of very cold topical numbing spray before the injections which meant I couldn’t feel much. So in addition to my description being very unscientific it could also be slightly inaccurate.
I think my doctor was somewhat unique (at least at the time) for doing the temple injections to treat TMJ and I think the temple is one of the injection locations used now when someone gets Botox for migraines. I know there were additional possible injection sites he used for more severe cases or where there wasn’t complete relief but I can’t recall where they were because I didn’t end up needing them.
Try and see whether you can relax your jaw (if you do it right your tongue would hang lower than usual and it may feel like saliva is produced at a faster rate), and see if tinnitus retreats after a while. If it does, I would speculate that the shots would then also work, though it may be helpful to find a psychosomatic approach first. (I'm not a doctor but familiar with such cases).
I suffer horrific migraines. One day after someone mentioned TMJ. I started massage various points around jaw. Found an incredibly painful spot. Worked on it over 3 days until it stopped hurting.
Migraines stopped. Several months later they started again. That same spot was bad again. Same results.
Good question, no. It’s too late to edit my original comment but I went probably every two or three months for a few years. The relief was immediate and continual and the migraines, back spasms, etc. never returned but I did get maintenance injections. I don’t know how to describe it but I could kind of feel that was wearing off. Like I feel my jaw muscles getting stronger and that’s when I’d make an appointment to go back. Eventually the follow-up appointments started to spread out further and then they stopped. I still don’t chew gum, though. As soon as I chew gum I can feel those muscles wanting to bulk right back up!
It’s my understanding that Botox weakens the muscle and people who clench/grind their teeth have very strong muscles so you kind of keep going until the muscle is atrophied(?) down to a normal strength. So I would imagine the earlier you go for treatment the shorter the amount time you’d require treatment and vice versa. For more severe cases there’s actually a visible difference in your face, too. It’s too subtle for most people to notice but I can look at photos of myself and tell you whether it was before or after I started botox. When your jaw muscles are so strong it makes your face more square.
Botox lasts for about 3 months. It can take multiple treatments to allow for muscle atrophy. The relief usually lasts for as long as the Botox does until the muscles change.
I'm curious about the neck piece of it. I grind at night, too, but I have neck and upper back issues despite everything I do to prevent, including years of PT exercises.
I don’t know you and haven’t had any of your symptoms, but reading your story brought a smile to my face. Thanks for sharing, hopefully it helps others.
I chipped / broke half of a crowded-out front tooth one night a month or so ago. My teeth sometimes chatter on their own at night.
My jaw is compact and massively internally-hypertrophic (reinforced) from a lifetime of bruxism. Also, masseters are jacked, teeth roots are extremely long, and my neck muscles are hypertrophic (no neck) too. I wonder if this is an evolutionary adaptation of a "fighter" body plan.
It does read a little bit like astroturfing, but as someone who had a (different) lifelong debilitating condition that has been almost entirely solved by a few doctor's appointments, I can say that nothing turns you into an advocate for something faster than this sort of experience. For me it was almost spiritual in the end. It was also oddly upsetting in some way, thinking about all the years I had wasted when essentially two hour-long appointments were all I needed. You gain this almost overwhelming need to help other people avoid the same morass you were in.
Hmm - this is really a deep issue here. How should we learn about these new treatments? Shouldn't we wait for the dentist to learn about it and evaluate - wouldn't someone with more background information be more suitable for that and maybe save us from traps? On average I would agree with that - but there are cracks in the bureaucracy mainstream medicine machine: https://equilibriabook.com/, and also I believe that communities like HN can be somehow trusted - it is possible to be better than the average: https://zby.medium.com/rational-patient-community-6d3617dffc...
Although I haven't personally tried it, I have friends outside of the US that rave about Sensodyne Repair & Protect original with the "Powered by NovaMin" badging. NovaMin is composed of special ceramic particles that coat the teeth with a compound that reacts with the saliva to form a durable physical barrier.
The problem is that the stuff with NovaMin is not typically available in the US. I just searched Amazon and found that they do sell small tubes of the real thing for about $14 each. Looks like it is coming from Canada.
As of a few years ago there's a similar FDA approved ingredient available in the US as BioMin. It works well for me and is cheaper than importing NovaMin.
Biomin also claims that their particles are smaller and therefore more effective at mineralization than Novamin.
Another option for leveling up on toothpaste is using those that contain micronized hydroxyapatite. Options here are Carifree or the Japanese brand Apagard available on eBay or Amazon. Biomin’s formula is proprietary but it might contain hydroxyapatite in part.
I stopped randomly getting cavities after using xylitol gum occasionally and brushing with these various toothpastes, n=1.
There also exist a variety of oral probiotics that claim to rebalance mouth flora away from species that cause cavities.
While no dentist ever told me about any of these options, at least Carifree is starting to market through US dentists.
Just out of interest, and not detracting from what you're saying, but normal fluoride also forms a compound (flouro-apetite) more resistant to avoid than normal tooth material (appetite). At least according to this chemist:
https://youtu.be/vtWp45Eewtw
(tooth chat at 5:10, but the whole video is interesting)
That Sensodyne paste struck some memories; I recall having seen it at a local shop, possibly even trying it, although at a much lower price, and a quick check on a local price list site confirms it.
All prices under €4, but of course shipping rates are for local delivery and I have no idea if the sellers can ship abroad, most of them might not even speak a word of English, however here they are; making quite a big order would defeat the costs for shipping to the US, which usually are high.
Yeap. Sensodyne Repair & Protect. It's a fairly new product, I accidentally found it at a pharmacy after reading a comment in here. Saw it at a local super market too the other day (sklavenitis).
I just bought 3 small tubes for $9 on Amazon, seemingly coming from Canada. I bought some previously from an Amazon seller in India, and have been using it for a few weeks. It seems to be working - teeth are less sensitive.
I’ve been using it for years - the first time I went to the dentist after having used it for a while was the first time I’ve ever had a dentist be so positive about the condition of my teeth.
I suppose anywhere the sells toothpaste, just make sure it has Novamin on the package since Sensodyne has other kinds. I don't remember exactly where it was last time, some random corner store near the Waterfront station (perhaps Shoppers Drug Mart looking at a map, or Seymour mini mart).
They give me very bad tooth pain and cause my teeth to move (I couldn't close my mouth properly after I used one for a couple weeks as 2 teeth would end up touching that didn't before). Luckily it reverted quickly but I stopped using it.
I mainly used it because sometimes I woke up hitting my teeth together really hard (it hurt a lot) but it was mainly due to stress. I really try to avoid that now, if I fail I may go back to using it :(
These lozenges will be great to get. I have pretty strong enamel though as they give all kids regular fluoride treatments. It really helped for me. I didn't have a cavity until the age of 43.
This is why you want one fitted across all your teeth by a dentist. And made out of a solid material so it continues to fit the same way rather than sharper teeth pushing down further. That way it sits properly and balances all of the tooth-tooth forces.
Having said all that, mine developed a hairline fracture and eventually split in two, but actually sits a bit better as two pieces until I get a new one made in a month.
That's not for everyone. I tried it for many months, and it made my condition worse and worse. Expensive appliance molded by my dentist, he even re molded when I complained it rocked a little, and then again gave me a different tech.
All for nothing. Splint, or mouth guard in North America, caused me to develop daytime bruxism and it moved my teeth in such a way that my back teeth didn't touch firmly, which my brain wanted to resolve by biting harder.
If it's my enamel or my TMJ, I guess I picked my TMJ. Grinding with the splint made my jaw hurt more.
I struggle with this. However I don't know what to do. I couldn't wear a splint, because I have a very sensitive gag reflex. I can almost start vomiting just by brushing me teeths...
See if your dentist can do a smaller splint on your front teeth, if your teeth haven't already been misaligned due to the bruxism this shouldn't cause anything to shift.
This is my problem right now. My dentist told me my ground-down molars are some of the worst he's ever seen, but my splint makes me snore terribly (I wear it anyway). Not sure I'm up for jaw surgery though!
>I've never had a cavity despite my poor dental hygiene habits and lack of dental practice visits
How old are you?
I was the same until 34 years of age, that's when I bit down on a peanutbutter brittle piece from haagen daazs ice cream and broke my first tooth. After that the visits just piled on.
Now I have one root totally dug out and filled in, (root canal?) and one small hole filled in. I floss daily and brush daily now. I take it seriously. Don't be like me, take it seriously now!
I had a similar story, broke a tooth eating something that had no right to break a tooth, ended up with a dental implant and half a mouthful of assorted fillings and two partial restorations (both near misses - the decay was nearly to the root, and if I had left it another month or so they would have needed root canals).
The worst part isn't even breaking the tooth or the resulting surgery, but rather it takes a year or more before things are back to normal with an implant (they backfill the extraction site with bone powder that acts as a scaffold to regrow the jaw and prevent sinking, which takes a minimum of six months, then they install the screw the implant attaches to and a temporary healing cap to protect the screw while it heals, and then wait another six or more months before the final implant can be installed).
Check into acid reflux aka GERD that could be a big part of your problem.
I was to the point where eating a room temperature banana in mid summer was too cold for my teeth. My dentist figured out it was the acid I was coughing up getting on my teeth.
I also grind my teeth but that's more mechanical the acid affects all surfaces of my teeth. Sensodyne toothpaste or similar helps a bit if I remember to not rinse it off.
I didnt know I had bruxism, but got a custom fitted plastic bite tray thing (sorry not sure how to translate) to wear at night, because i have a bad bite. And damn that thing changed my life. it was like €300. And yea discovered i had bruxism because my jaw and face felt so unusually relaxed in the morning.
Make sure you look into having something at night so your teeth doesnt wear further :)
I'm currently using Elmex Sensitive Professional. It's apparently using arginine as its active ingredient. Although I don't know which ingredient in here it is that is actually in charge of numbing the pain. I know I've dabble with some other one as well but I have no idea what it had.
I did find Meridol and Sensodyne Rapid Relief toothpastes listed on a national pharmacy's website that apparently contain stannous fluoride, so maybe I'll have to try those out at some point. I don't think I've ever tried either.
Stannous as in tin (SnF2). Other fluoride toothpastes often use sodium fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate. Stannous fluoride is slightly more likely to stain your teeth.
No they don't. You have to look for it. Crest and Colgate both have versions, the stannous has additional bacteria killing properties and filling in porous teeth as well that the potassium fluoride doesn't have. Plenty of research available online
No they don’t all have it. Stannous fluoride is different than whatever the regular fluoride is. I don’t know the details, I just know my dental hygienist recommended I try it, and it actually helped, which I wasn’t expecting.
> Conventional whitening treatments rely on hydrogen peroxide
Has anyone tried those newer Japanese hydroxyappetite toothpastes? They aren't based on hydrogen peroxide. I recently started using this a few days ago.
Get yourself checked for Periodontitis [1]. (Assuming the bruxism is self-diagnosed based on your lack of dental practice visits.)
This is a common condition whereby bacteria get between the gum and teeth. It starts with sticky "plaque" from food and saliva, which hardens into tartar, which can get below the gumline. Bacteria grows in the tartar, which in time causes inflammation. At this point the damage isn't permanent and will be fixed by a dental clean. The inflammation causes swollen gums, which may be sore when brushed, and in the longer term the bone around your teeth recedes away from the inflammation. The receding bone leaves gaps around the teeth, which exposes their roots, making them sensitive, and the gaps exacerbate the condition by providing the bacteria a difficult to clean safe harbour. At this point the damage is becoming permanent, but treatment can prevent it from becoming worse. Left untreated over a period of years, the bone recedes so much that your teeth become loose, eventually falling out. End game is false teeth or equivalent. It's possible for the swollen gums to cover up the other symptoms by the swelling gums temporarily filling the gaps left by receding bone. The disease progresses over many years, so it's easy to ignore until there are permanent effects, but early treatment (a dental clean) will make it go away.
In the years before permanent damage the only symptom can be an occasional gum soreness which goes away after a few days and doesn't seem worth worrying about.
As far as I can make out, brushing delays Periodontitis by slowing tartar buildup, but over a period of many years it's not enough and one has to eventually go to a dentist to get the tartar scraped off, so Periodontitis causing bacteria have less places to live. Basically no dental visits over a period of many years with a typical diet = Periodontitis with permanent effects.
Have you tried Novamin containing toothpaste (Sensodyne repair & protect) ? I've heard its not available in the US but I suppose you could still buy it online.
I've had tooth sensitivity for a while, and this tootpaste fixed the problem for me
Others gave you good advice. But you need to speak with a dentist and see if your teeth are in good health.
Some things I’ve tried that will help:
* Fitted mouth guard (splint). This reduces tooth wear and muscle pain
* Optirinse fluoride rinse. You can use this every day to reduce sensitivity
* Sensodyn with novamin. Remineralizes
* Face massage. I actually had a lot of tooth pain that was just referred pain. I grinded, my jaw tightened, this muscle tension hurt my teeth. When I pressed certain areas in my jaw and relaxed the muscle I felt the pain trigger, then dissipate. Some professional massage got rid of it fully.
Yeah my teeth are sensitive (cold and sugar). I could use something like this pretty badly. I've always brushed religiously but I still know over time and as you age enamel is just thinning.
This "biting hurts" sounds little ominous. Have they X-rayed your roots? I had recently two root canals and the doctor told they have been infected for half a century, but healed on their own. The reason they were infected was I a stopped chewing Xylitol-gum. And the reason I stopped chewing was I my teeth started cracking because of old age. Root canals are not big thing nowadays, painless and fast.
Ok. X-rays are not that good, it mostly is guesswork. But I remembered other indicator. Does it hurt when you push the roots from outside at your face? Also does it feel mushy or liquid-ly at some point. I had totally painless bag of puss under my eye for 10 years. Only when got infected for the second time, it started to hurt and needed a canal, via which the said puss squirted out. It is like totally new now, did not even need a crown.
I have a similar problem but sleeping with a night guard helps, and also Gel Kam twice daily is much more effective than the sensitive tooth toothpaste.
I was just told I need a quintuple extraction after having to go to the ER with jaw pain. 4 wisdoms and a molar.
I really wish they'd hurry this up.
It's too late for those teeth but maybe I can save others.
I've been having some success with toothpaste with NovaMin (has to be purchased outside the US) and mouthwash that contains Dipotassium Oxalate Monohydrate. That is OTC in the US but you have to find the ones with it.
Not sure why you need the extraction, but for me personally, I had my teeth shift ever so slightly which threw off my bite. Pain was excruciating. The solution was a tiny amount of polishing a few of my teeth so my bite was better lined up.
If someone had told me to remove the teeth because of the pain, I would have said yes.
I’d at least make sure that they tested your bite before you move forward with extraction.
Yeah it's necessary to visit a dentist regularly, even if you go for conservative treatments. Every now and then they might have a good recommendation. Regarding the muscle tension itself Progressive muscle relaxation can help.
This article is from March and states the trials were expected to start in March or April. They say each round of trials is 3 months so it will be just in time for the next round if you are aiming to sign up.
I had 1 cavity in my decades and I had really awful habits. All of my teeth were sealed in youth.
I too have bruxism that is wearing down some molars severely. My grandfather wore his teeth down to about nothing.
My dentist suggested I get Invisalign for tooth crowding, veneers for small canines, and a mouth guard I can't tolerate at present). If had a workable mouth guard, I would do this lozenge thing. I feel sensation in my teeth and gums constantly.
I never did whitening because I always thought the risks were too great.
My concern with Invisalign is you have to wear a nighttime retainer for life. I had a bad experience with stuff in my mouth at night, which made bruxism worse when it was supposed to be better. When my brain feels something in the mouth on the teeth, it induces the jaw to bite more when I'm sleeping.
I want this so badly.
I've never had a cavity despite my poor dental hygiene habits and lack of dental practice visits but apparently I suffer from bruxism that can make half of my teeth hurt whenever I bite on anything harder than a wet noodle. Just now I brushed my teeth with a pain-numbing toothpaste and just the act of brushing my teeth made them hurt. Although sometimes I can go for some time without pain, it's been pretty much a constant in my life for the last years.