Night time tooth grinding related to acid reflux

Recently I have attended the Seattle Study Club annual symposium and listened to world class lecturers about treatment planning for success. One of the speakers related tooth grinding to acid reflux which I have found fascinating. Grinding of the teeth occurs right before swallowing. Reasons why the swallowing would need to occur while sleeping is because acid coming up from the stomach is in the esophageous. Swallowing is the body’s reaction to get rid of the acid. So, the brain turns on an area to pretend like it is chewing in order to hopefully get some saliva in the process to neutralize the acids in the throat.
Another way to help patients realize that they may have acid reflux is not necessarily related to heart burn. When people wake up in the morning and who are hoarse or who have stuffieness in their sinuses may also have acid reflux.
Acids in the mouth can certainly dissolve the teeth and now we are relating the tooth wear to the acid reflux in the stomach. Fascinating…