Grinding and clenching your teeth (bruxism) overworks the chewing muscles and loads the jaw joints, which is why you can wake up with a sore jaw, tight cheeks or a temple headache. A dentist protects your teeth, often with a night guard. A chiropractor treats the sore jaw and neck muscles and helps you break the daytime clenching habit. Many people need both. At Shephard Health in Kensington, Calgary, a jaw assessment starts with our $67 new patient exam and treatment, and we direct bill most major insurance providers.
Waking up with a sore jaw? Start with a $67 new patient visit
A jaw and neck assessment, treatment on day one when it is safe, and a plan to calm the muscles and cut down on clenching. Same-day appointments are often available, and we direct bill your benefits. Book online.
Awake bruxism is mostly clenching: teeth held together or jaw muscles braced, often while you focus, drive, feel stressed or train. It is a habit, which means you can change it.
Sleep bruxism is grinding or clenching while you sleep. It is linked with brief arousals from sleep, and in some people with snoring or sleep apnea. You cannot control it directly, so the focus is protecting your teeth, calming the muscles and looking at sleep.
When you chew normally, your teeth touch for only a small part of the day. Clenching for hours makes the masseter and temporalis muscles work like a plank you never let go of: they tire, get sore, and develop tender spots that can send pain to the teeth, ear and temple. The jaw joints take more load too, which can irritate them and set off clicking.
A night guard (an occlusal splint) made by your dentist protects your teeth from wear and chipping. Whether it reduces jaw pain is less clear. The US National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research notes there is not a lot of evidence that splints improve TMD pain, and a 2023 guideline in The BMJ made a conditional recommendation against reversible splints for chronic TMD pain. The same guideline gave strong recommendations to hands-on muscle treatment, jaw exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy.
What that means in practice: wear a guard if your dentist recommends it to protect your teeth, and treat the muscles and habits as well. Avoid any device or treatment that permanently changes your bite, which experts advise against.
Your dentist checks your teeth for wear and cracks, looks at your bite, makes a night guard if you need one, treats dental causes of pain, and can suggest a sleep assessment if grinding comes with snoring.
A chiropractor assesses the jaw muscles, how the joint moves, and your neck and posture. Treatment includes Active Release Technique and trigger point work on the masseter and temporalis (outside the mouth and, with your consent, inside it with gloves), jaw mobilization, neck care, exercises and clenching habit coaching. More on seeing a TMJ chiropractor in Calgary.
We treat the jaw pain, tight muscles and neck tension that grinding causes, and we help you cut down on daytime clenching. We do not treat teeth; your dentist handles tooth wear and night guards.
It can contribute, because it overloads the jaw muscles and joints. Not everyone who grinds gets TMJ pain, and some people with TMJ pain do not grind.
Hands-on work on the jaw and neck muscles often helps. Ask about massage therapy at the clinic for neck and shoulder tension.
Ask your dentist. A guard that does not fit well can be uncomfortable, and any guard should not change your bite.
The new patient exam and treatment is $67, and we direct bill most major insurance providers.
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