Grinding of Teeth

Donr

My DW has been diagnosed with Alz for 8 years. She is currently in stage 4. She just started grinding her teeth during awake hours. I am afraid she might do permanent damage to her teeth. She visited her dentist to reattach a crown. Her dentist was no help. Has anyone else run into this problem?

sandwichone123

I got a mouth guard (night guard) made by the local dental hygienist school. The dentist can make one too, but it costs a lot more. Anyway, I don't know if she would be able to cooperate with them making a custom guard, or if she could use it after it was made.

SDianeL

very common in late stages. I doubt she would keep a mouth guard in her mouth. Also mouth guards are dangerous for Alzheimer’s patients. They can bite them or swallow them. I would talk to the Neurologist or Geriatric Psychiatrist about medications for anxiety to see if that helps.

Vitruvius

My DW ground her teeth as well. We tried a dentist made mouth guard for night use but she would not wear it. I never was able to do anything to stop it, but she eventually stopped on her own about six months after it started.

CampCarol

My husband has ground his teeth to the point where I’m finding pieces of broken teeth around the house, and it’s obvious looking at him that there’s an issue there. Our dentist will not give him a guard due to the safety reasons @ SDianeL described above and couldn’t offer any other ideas to mitigate it. As far as I can tell, it’s only at night, I’m not seeing any evidence of this during the day. Sorry I can’t offer you a solution, but you’re not alone in this!

Donr

I appreciate everyone's suggestions.

Blessed 52 years

Hello, I too am having difficulty with my wife grinding her teeth. can be pretty intense. I can't figure the trigger and only thing that sometime works is chewing gum, but usually swallows several before going into a lasting chew. Have you found anything to help??? Earl in Hartland