OSA and Bruxism (teeth grinding)

[paulbooth6]

Guys and ladies

Here is another one to add to the medical cv for OSA.

My dentist has been commenting for some time in the damage I have done to my teeth through 'grinding'.

It now appears (you may already know this but I didnt) that when you come out of an event you are very liable to be stressed and thus grind your teeth causing irripairable damage! (see link below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruxism

I also suffer from crossing my arms so tight that my hands go to sleep (sorry bad pun) so badly the pins and needles wake me up. Anyone experience this and know what it is called (I call it 'crossing of hands so tight they fall asleep syndrome').

Seriously though this all adds to the stress of having OSA and the pressure of stressful symptoms on an already stressed body. So far the OSA cv reads like this for me

OSA
Depression
Gerd
Type 2 diabetes
High colestorol (not sure if this is due to OSA but will blame it anyway)
High blood pressure
Hypertension
Permanent damage to teeth
circulation problems
relationship problems (my daughters mother eventually moved out of our bed and into the spare room before we split up).
Sacked from my last desk job

Sorry to share all this but it is amazing how OSA can contribute to your health
problems.

[Tigers Fan]

Chickens and eggs

I wonder why you chose to start your list of ailments with OSA. I understand that OSA is contributory to all the conditions in your list - but what caused the OSA?

If you'll forgive the plagarism, my list looks like this -

Depression or SAD
Too many mince pies - or whatever, seasonally
Lack of exercise
Weight gain
OSA
Type 2 diabetes
Raised colestorol
Raised blood pressure
Etc
Etc

In other words, I put OSA down as a consequence of my own behaviour - and, as that is the case, I have the power to do something about it.

TF

[paulbooth6]

OSA and Bruxism (teeth grinding)

Tigers Fan

I appreciate everyones list and order is personal to them.

The primary reason for the posting was to air the issue of bruxism as a potential 'side effect' of OSA.

I shared my 'list' so others who may have some of the other 'conditions' but either not realise they are symptomatic of OSA or even that they are 'official' illnesses like bruxism/teeth grinding are aware and can put a label on them/reason for them.

Re my list and its order as i say it is personal to everyone but by just looking at some of the postings it is apparent OSA can be a consequence of weight as you appear to accept or a cause of weight gain as myself and others have posted.

My list is also a timeline to a certain extent and i can confirm other factors like having a size 16" neck even when 10 stone in weight.

I can also point to a number of contributions by medical people away from this site who also say OSA is said to be a major contributor if not the reason for weight gain depression (lack of motivation) etc which leads to high blood pressure, etc etc and in my case being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

I will reiterate the purpose of my thread was to indicate a known medical link between OSA and Bruxism as per the link posted and not to stand on a soap box. it was to help 'educate' others like me who were not aware of the affect OSA can have on your life if you accept as I do that it is a major debilitating illness. condition, disability call it what you like which is only now getting the attention as a condition etc it warrents due to people like the DVLA getting involved and sites like this educating people like me so we can go to our GPS armed with some indicators so we dont get palmed off like I did 8 years ago when my OSA first began to take hold and nothing medical was done about it.
The rest they say is history.
Cheers for sharing your thoughts.
Paul

[Tigers Fan]

Ooooooooh!

I wonder if you have ever been in a prison - as an inmate, visitor or whatever. I have - once, as a drug and alcohol adviser. Of the many things that impressed and shocked the hell out of me was that all those innocent people were locked up - every man jack of them!

TF

[paulbooth6]

OSA and Bruxism

As you have asked the question, I have visited a category 1 prisoner in the uk on a number of occasions at different category 1 prisons and I found that No the inmates were not all pleading innocence as they had time to reflect and realise that denying the true facts to themselves was not helping them rehabilitate!.

You can respond however you wish but dont be childish please. It lowers the tone and the relevence of the forum for those who wish to use their own intelligence to understand and select what information they want to use to help them combat this debilitating condition.

[James @ Intus]

Interesting thread Paul, thanks for bringing it up.

Here's an actual study on how bruxism was eradicated when the OSA part was treated with CPAP.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=14592147&itool=iconabstr&itool=pubmed_docsum&query_hl=2

During the CPAP titration night most breathing abnormalities were eliminated and a complete eradication of the tooth grinding events was observed. The results of this study suggest that when sleep bruxism is related to apnea/hypopneas, the successful treatment of these breathing abnormalities may eliminate bruxism during sleep.

Oh and please take Tiger Fan's metaphor as a reaction to your post, not to yourself. He's known here for that style and without those types of comments, the fantastic wealth of info and experiences he shares may sound a bit too serious

Going back on topic, I know form dentists' experiences that some MADs don't stand up to the forces of bruxism. Those patients get treated for OSA with a splint, which perhaps doesn't take care of all the apnoea events, and they still grind. Eventually (rather quickly in an inferior quality splint) they grind the splint away. Would be interesting if they repeated that study with mandibular advancement splints.

[Tigers Fan]

Thirteen posts

Hi Paul

I believe the forum rules state that you have to have more than one hundred posts before you start pontificating and even then, its frowned upon.

The fun is in challenging the ideas and attitudes posted, surely, not the poster. Isn't that what learning is about? We don't even know each other let alone have scope to be judgemental.

If you don't like or approve of my posts, there is a device available to prevent you seeing them - I think it's in your User CP.

TF

[juliepates]

I have worn a tooth guard for a while now to stop me grinding my teeth and chewing my tongue as well. ~Its a bit like a sports guard, made of silcon-type material and it worked well with my full mask.

As to the chicken and egg question

I can only blame myself for what i have eaten, I can blame the OSA for slowing down and being unmotivated, I can blame an accident that damaged nerves in my face and throat for my osa, I can blame the medical profession for not diagnosing me and attributing all my symptoms to numerous conditions I now don't have, I can blame myself for being too easily fobbed off and not insisting on a second opinion, I can blame my husband for being such a heavy sleeper he never noticed my problems - I could go on but...............

I am just thankful that I know what really is up with me and am looking forward to a better, brighter life, there's no point dwelling on the 'what ifs' only on the 'what next'

julie

[James @ Intus]

This just in:

http://www.shiftworkdisorder.com/bruxism-prevalent-in-caucasians-with-sleep-disorders-10528.html

There is a high prevalence of nocturnal teeth grinding, or bruxism, in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), particularly in Caucasians. New research presented at CHEST 2009, the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), found that nearly 1 in 4 patients with OSA suffers from nighttime teeth grinding; this seems to be especially more prevalent in men and in Caucasians compared with other ethnic groups.