Easing the Clench: Teeth Grinding Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe teeth grinding and clenching, by night and by day. Writers traced it to exam season, grief after a mother's death, a divorce, PTSD nightmares, loud snoring, an antidepressant, ADHD medication, six coffees a night, heavy drinking, festival ecstasy, reflux and chewing gum all day. They include an ICU nurse, a personal trainer cracking a molar under a deadlift, a violinist gripping with his jaw, a Mumbai taxi driver, a factory worker on night shifts, a farmer who wore his dentures flat, a pregnant teaching assistant and a mother listening to her five-year-old grind, from Columbus and Kingston to Vienna, Seoul and Nairobi. Many first went looking for something else: an ear infection, daily headaches, ringing in the ears, a filling that kept falling out. Treatments described include custom and cheap night guards, Botox for jaw pain, physiotherapy for a locking jaw, a sleep test, therapy, a biofeedback headband, acupuncture, rebuilt teeth, veneers and simple reminders on a screen to unclench. The costs of crowns and years of avoiding the dentist are counted plainly. Not everyone stopped grinding: some outcomes are partial, a cheap guard made one writer's pain worse, and several, including a hygienist of nineteen years, have settled for protecting their teeth and living with it.

Who it's for

For anyone told by a dentist or partner that they grind, anyone waking with headaches or a stiff jaw, and parents of a child who grinds at night and wonder what it means.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 233 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.