TMJ

TMJ which stands for temporomandibular jaw syndrome causes pain and discomfort to occur through grinding of the teeth and misalignment of the jaw.

I have had TMJ since I was a teen, and I have used bite splints to help prevent me from grinding my teeth while I sleep at night. These splints have greatly reduced the pain, but the underlying condition remains and very little can be done to treat it.

I have chewed through four different bite splints over the years. I think that stress has a large component in whether people grind their teeth or not. I wish I did not feel so much stress, and I am not sure why I feel such stress whereas other people do not. I am very much a stress ball and feel stressed most waking hours. Yet, I have many relatives and friends who are similar to me in terms of day-to-day activities and responsibilities, yet they do not feel as much stress as I do.

I wonder if there is some sort of inner, perhaps genetic, component to being stressed.

Konrad