Increase in teeth-grinding cases seen

The woman, a single mother who works in a high-stress environment and is newly divorced, sought medical help after experiencing jaw pain while eating or talking.

She had already been having difficulty recently with a persistent faulty bite, but did not think much of the condition until she was told by her daughter that she grinds her teeth during sleep, added local media.

According to medical experts, hospitals have recently seen a spike in cases of stress-induced bruxism - a significant 20 to 30 percent in the past six months.

Chen Yi-ruei, an oral surgeon at the Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, said that the pattern is likely a result of anxieties arising from the current economic climate.

People who suffer from bruxism, a diurnal or nocturnal activity, not only wear away their enamel, but the teeth-grinding tendency can also exacerbate bad bites so that sufferers have trouble ingesting food or end up with temporomandibular joint disorders, or TMDs, noted Chen.

Chen advised monitoring the progress of occlusal traumas through splint therapy, which is usually carried out by observation of biting contacts on the splint, more commonly known as a night guard, and then adjusting the occlusal splint accordingly.

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