Have you ever tried to lift something that weights about 200 lbs.? Now imagine that much weight is being put on an area that is only as small as 1 square inch. That’s a lot of force, right? Well, that, ladies and gentlemen, is the bite force that a human jaw can create. Such force when go unchecked can cause pain and significant discomfort to our jaws and surrounding areas. The most direct victims are our teeth.
I was freaking out about my constant toothache and ended up getting one of my upper wisdom teeth removed. There was no sign of decay or infection, but the dentist believed the pain was caused by the crowding pressure around the tooth. He was dead wrong because months after the tooth extraction, I still had the same pain in my jaw at the exact same spot. I went back and he had no other explanation. Not until about a year later when I was well into my path of anxiety recovery that the pain went away without me even noticing it.
Clenching our jaws when under stress is common. You clench your teeth when trying to lift heavy object or trying to endure a certain type of pain. Your jaws clenched up when you’re angry. We catch ourselves clenching while focusing on a certain task. These occasional incidents when clenching our jaw seem to not be causing any issue because our jaws are quickly released and get a chance to relax and recover.
With anxiety, since stress hormone flow in our system almost all day long, our jaw muscles get little to no break. I had an opportunity to consult a gentleman who works as an engineer. He was complaining about his constant headache and a broad radiating pain on and around his face. He worried it would stay with him forever since he tried many medications and treatments, and nothing worked. Throughout our 30 mins conversation, I noticed that his jaws were clenching so hard I can see his jaw muscles protruding on his cheeks.
I asked him to trust me and stop searching for answer over the internet. He agreed. I told him to wear a night guard at night when he goes to sleep. The night guard creates an important cushion between your lower and upper jaws. This gap helps release the tension and protect your teeth from the grinding and clenching. I also asked him to set an alarm on his phone for every 10 minutes with a reminder message “Release your jaws”. This is crucial because most of the time we don’t even realize that our jaws are clenched up. A frequent reminder can break the cycle and give our jaw muscles the necessary breaks.
Three weeks later, he called me with an exciting news. His headache was significantly reduced, and his face was almost free of constant pain. I was very happy to hear about his condition, but I made sure to remind him that such treatment is temporary. His main focus should be his anxiety, not the jaw pain and toothache alone.
Symptoms are like battles. You can win one here and there, but attacking your anxiety helps you win the war.