Today, I’d like to explain the connection between your fear of expressing yourself and bruxism (teeth grinding).

You might be wondering what the connection is between grinding or clenching your teeth and expressing yourself. You may think there’s no connection, but I also thought the same until I worked with a client last week who was afraid of expressing themselves.

When you’re afraid of expressing yourself, you end up bottling things inside. You may be afraid of expressing yourself to your father, your partner, or anyone else. This fear leads to numbing your feelings, which build up as resentment and anger. This anger may manifest in your job, leading to teeth grinding as a way to ease the tension.

It all starts with not expressing yourself, which develops into anger and results in teeth grinding. The root cause of your teeth grinding may go back to something you might not initially think is related. If you’re unable to stop grinding your teeth, it means there’s something else in your life bothering you. It’s not just the grinding — you might be overthinking, afraid of expressing yourself, lacking boundaries, or feeling fearful.

It’s better to look at teeth grinding holistically rather than just as a dental issue. Most people get it wrong by viewing it only as a dental problem, thinking they need to do some TMD analysis with the dentist and then they’re done. No, there’s something that grinding is trying to tell you.

When you’re afraid of expressing yourself, you end up holding a lot of anger inside. Sometimes, this anger is held in your throat, making it hard for words to come out. Have you ever felt like you want to say something but the words aren’t coming out?

That’s because you’ve suppressed a lot, believing you don’t deserve to be heard or that expressing yourself will cause conflict and hurt others. So, you numb those feelings, causing anger and resentment to build up inside, sometimes manifesting in tight jaws.

By looking at the root causes of the stress behind teeth grinding, you’ll be able to grow as a person and go beyond the normal approach of just wearing a night guard to prevent further damage to your teeth. Look at it holistically, not just as a dental issue, and you may realize there’s something else behind it.