Would you like to finally stop grinding your teeth?

What if there is a way for you to stop, without mouthguards or medication?

Hello teeth-grinders & jaw clenchers,

A lot of people clench their jaw or grind their teeth (“bruxism” is the medical term).  Some estimates are as high as 3 out of 10 people do - both awake and asleep. 

Not all of these are severe cases.  Some folks never even notice and it doesn’t cause a problem for them.  Their dentist might mention it, but it never seems to get to the point of needing to address it.

But for some folks, it’s really terrible!  

But it’s not just about wearing down the teeth.

• It’s painful. 

• It can cause headaches, neck and shoulder pain.  

• It can disrupt sleep for you AND your partner.  And we all know how things can spiral when you’re not getting good sleep, especially if it’s more than just a couple of nights.

I don’t need to tell you how it wears down your spirit as much as it wears down your teeth - whether you’ve been suffering from this while you’re awake or asleep. 

It affects you on multiple levels, doesn’t it?

• rate their struggle, pain & torment as 6/10 or higher... up to 12/10.

• are rightly cautious about people who claim to have a cure

• are rightly cautious about (medical) people who say it is permanent and you just have to cope

And most importantly, it’s for the type of people who take clear action only when they realize they have effective solutions in front of them. 

I realize that this issue can drive people to the edge.  And I’m not here to take advantage of any pain or desperation.  There is no hard sell here.

Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m here to offer reassurance that there are ways out.  And I’ve got some practical things to help whether or not you hire me to help you.

Relief is possible, even if that seems hard to believe right now.

On this page you’ll find… 

A strong case for Why to Include Hypnosis (or something like it) as a part of improving or healing the experience you’ve had with this so far.

Including:

1. Where teeth grinding and jaw clenching come from (i.e. causes)
   

2. Why (and how) you can still make significant improvements, even if my ideas about causes are completely wrong
   

3. Where teeth grinding can lead: both if you do and if you don’t stop it
   

4. Ideas you’ll want to consider & actions you’ll need to take, if you’re going to make significant reduction in symptoms or even resolve it completely

I am NOT promising that I can resolve it completely for everyone of my clients.  I don’t know why you’ve had this issue up until now, so I’m not making any guarantees.

I AM saying that there are options beyond what most conventional dentists and doctors have considered.   Their expertise is in teeth, right?  However, they’re not pro’s at changing behaviours, not processing difficult emotions, and not working effectively with the unconscious mind.

Let’s start on a positive note.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been suffering from this, most impacts of bruxism clear up on their own once you’ve stopped(or reduced) the clenching and grinding.

The body’s natural healing takes over again.

• headaches abate 

• tension in the neck and jaw releases

• energy levels return because you can sleep well again 

• tired, frustrated partners can return to cuddling (or at least allow you back in the bed)

• even teeth enamel has the capacity to regenerate and heal

The only thing that doesn’t really heal on its own is the worn down teeth that don’t grow back. 

Why Teeth Grinding Happens

Here’s the deal: Nobody really knows the cause.  Not in a universal cause-effect sort of way.

It’s not like other health conditions where they can confirm that “dioxins cause this“ or “magnesium deficiency causes that.”

You won’t see these headlines:

• Teeth Grinding comes from eating unripe bananas
    

• Jaw Clenching is a result of too much SpongeBob exposure

You will see these headlines:

• “Why reports have surged since COVID-19 — and what actually causes bruxism” ~ Toronto Star, 4/27/24

• “Dentists are seeing more cracked teeth. Pandemic stress is to blame” ~ CNN 9/29/20

It might be as simple as this…

Some people hold tension in their jaws.  Some people hold it in their shoulders.  For some people it’s in their stomach.  And so on.

And then, when the stress response is triggered by worry, anger, fear, anxiety, etc … you hold those emotions as tightness and tension in that part of the body. 

And voila, if who hold tension in the jaw, you start clenching or grinding their teeth.  

If you hold tension in the stomach, you get digestive issues.

They go on to list tobacco, alcohol, coffee, a number of drugs (recreational & prescription), family history, and a few diagnoses that “may play a role.” 

Another site lists the top 3 reasons as…

1. abnormal bite 

2. crooked teeth

3. sleep apnea

Let’s think about these 3 things.

#1 and 2 are understandable as to how a dentist or an orthodontist would see the cause as being related to teeth.   The argument being “if your teeth don’t align comfortably, you’ll grind them,” presumably until they do align comfortably.

It does raise some interesting questions though:  

1. Do all or a majority of people with well aligned teeth never grind their teeth?  And if not, why?

2. Do all or a majority of people with an abnormal bite grind their teeth?  And if not, why?

As for #3, I have no idea how or why someone with sleep apnea - a condition where a person holds their breath/stops breathing during sleep - would cause someone to clench their jaw while they’re not breathing.  On the other hand, I can imagine how it could lead to snoring.

Really, I’m just trying to cut through some of the nonsense reasoning. 

This issue is far too important for so many people to be given these unsatisfactory explanations.

It’s incredibly disheartening to ask a health professional for help and then have them give you some advice that is either obvious, simple, stupid or it won’t work. Or all 4. 

You went to them because of their expertise, right? You want a frank conversation about what really works and what doesn’t.

Unfortunately, you often get other advice.

For example, WebMD actually says this:

“Do not chew on pencils or pens or anything that is not food. Avoid chewing gum as it allows your jaw muscles to get more used to clenching and makes you more likely to grind your teeth.”

As if the pencil taught your jaw how to clench and it was so wonderful that your jaw suddenly realized, “this chewing thing is great! I should do it all night.”  

By that logic, you should avoid running so that you won’t sleepwalk.  And absolutely never ever open a jar of pickles or your hand will never open again!

It’s totally fair to want answers that make sense. Hopefully this page continues to do that.

In a word… Anxiety.  

Whether you’re awake or asleep, teeth grinding comes from anxiety. 

The only difference is that you can’t identify those anxious feelings while you’re asleep, so it’s impossible to do anything about them consciously.

Remember, you’re still thinking and feeling while you’re asleep, still experiencing life’s ups and downs.  We just call it dreaming. 

This is arguably the main function of sleeping… to process, resolve, make sense of and/or learn from your experiences and emotions. 

And it’s not just processing what happened today.  It’s everything that remains unresolved in your life that might come up.

Now remember, the unconscious mind responds to your dreams (your imagination), as if it’s real.  So, the body has pleasure responses, pain responses, stress responses, etc. Just as you do when you’re awake.

Here we need to get on the same page about 2 important terms because everyone has their own definition.  

1. When I say “anxiety”, I mean any difficult or uncomfortable emotion that’s intense enough to trigger the body’s stress response.  

2. By “stress response”, in this context, I mean clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth. 

Anxiety = any difficult or uncomfortable emotion that triggers your teeth grinding.

Anxiety could be worry, fear, panic, anger, doubt, self criticism, overwhelm, shame, embarrassment, regret, etc. 

It could be a frantic, scattered feeling.  Or it could be a hyper-focused, contracted, stiff and heavy feeling.  Or it might be a nonspecific unease and inability to relax.

I don’t know how you experience anxiety, but I do know that it makes a lot more sense to me that the reaction of clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth comes from things like: 

1. Worry about future 

2. Regret or self judgement about the past 

3. Keeping secrets - fear of getting caught 

4. Future anxiety from past regrets or shame

5. Nightmares or repetitive dreams - perhaps an old traumatic experience replaying 

6. Vague sense of dread 

This also explains why someone can grind their teeth despite having done all the right sleep hygiene things and all the pre-bed relaxation techniques.  

You can go to sleep feeling good and relaxed but still grind your teeth during the night.

This is because your unconscious mind is processing these unresolved thoughts and feelings. This is what triggers your stress response which starts the teeth grinding.

Because here’s the thing:

That tension in the jaw is just a sign that you are stuck in the middle of the processing. 

The mind loops in a similar way, but it’s easier to get past the scratch. You can learn how, even thought the record player never will.

When your unconscious mind learns to finish processing those feelings and experiences, they no longer set off your stress response… and you don’t grind your teeth.

Remember, nobody really knows the cause(s).  This is just my best understanding.  And it won’t land for everyone.  

Some of you have been nodding along as you read and some haven’t.  That’s what’s supposed to happen.

It doesn’t matter what the cause is or if you ever figure it out, funny as it seems.  There’s a way to use hypnosis in a mechanical approach as well as an emotional one.

Where teeth grinding can lead: both if you do and if you don’t stop it

You already have a sense about where this leads if you don’t address it, right?  It’s possible that it’ll resolve on its own, but it's very unlikely. 

For some folks, the symptoms plateau and stay at about the same point.  The aches and pains in their jaw, head, neck, shoulders, etc remain consistent.  Maybe they’re able to keep the mouthguard in for the entire night, so their teeth don’t wear down. And when the mouthguard works, it also brings relief to their partner’s sleep.

For other folks, the symptoms compound and get worse.  

• The teeth might crack, which can be expensive to repair as well as being painful
  

• The jaw tension migrates and headaches intensifies
  

• Sleep deprivation can penetrate all aspects of your life. And the struggles really spiral downward when you can’t get sleep for days

But remember … The Body Heals.  

Nature is regenerative!

And you are part of Nature.

When you get a cut the body responds immediately, doesn’t it?  That same healing response happens every time your jaw relaxes.

Solutions to Stop Teeth Grinding

We finally got here!  Thank you for your patience with this.  

The fact that you’ve made it this far means that you’re highly committed to making this change in your life.  Let’s get you what you need to finally make these changes.

Quick review of what we’ve already touched on…

• The orthodontic approach says that aligning your bite is the way to eliminate teeth grinding.
  
  For anyone who’s worn braces, you know that this process takes months or years.  And you might be aware that this is an expensive approach, especially if you don’t have extended health coverage.

• Dentists often advocate for mouth guards. 
  
  When used properly, they protect teeth from being worn down and offer some protection from teeth cracking from pressure, but do nothing to prevent the clenching and grinding behaviour.

Top 4 strategies given by doctor’s when asked “how do I stop it?”

1. Stress Reduction

2. Mouthguards

3. Pharmaceutical sedatives or muscle relaxants.

4. Botox

And the top 4 internal responses that most people have when they hear that is: 

1. “Reduce my stress?  Shit, I never thought of that as a way to feel better!” 🙃

2. “I don’t want to wear a mouth guard.  That’s gonna suck.  And it’s gonna fall out.”

3. “Maybe muscle relaxants wouldn’t be so bad, I guess.”

4. “Botox really?! I have to stop my face from moving at all?! That can’t be true.  Well, maybe, but only as an absolute last resort.”

My Take on Resolving Teeth Grinding

Starting with the understanding that this is an unconscious behaviour, you need to be able to work with the unconscious mind (aka “subconscious mind”).  

Remember, this is where the trigger has been initiating the behaviour, so interventions won’t be effective without this!

I weave together 2 very different approaches to cover all the bases.  

Approach #1 -

Complete the Processing: Avoid triggering the stress-response by reducing anxieties.

As we talked about, when your unconscious mind gets to the end of the digestion and integration process, there’s nothing to feel anxious about.  It doesn’t mean you’ll feel great about all the struggles you’ve gone through, but it does mean the memory of those struggles no longer pulls you around by the nostrils.

You’ll know when you’re there because you can revisit memories, thoughts, etc without triggering big emotions anymore.  (And you’ll test and confirm this for yourself inside the session with me.)

This approach works without the need to relive old traumas.

This is important for emotional safety. 

You don’t have to dig through any particular memory or experience.  In fact, one of the perks of using hypnosis to work with the unconscious mind is that you can do this processing completely at the unconscious level.   

I know, it’s a bit hard to wrap your head around.  I didn’t believe it until I saw it and experienced it.   It’s good to be skeptical because after the doubt is gone, you know  what you know at a very deep level.

This work turns traumas into life experience.

Approach #2-

“Hypnotic Botox”: Stop the jaw muscles from clenching.

This assumes that approach #1 didn’t prevent the stress response from triggering. 

So, now we’re taking a mechanical approach to resolving this issue.  Simply, we “program” the unconscious mind to stop the jaw muscles from contracting during the stress response.

The mechanical approach is where the medical system operates.  They don’t have tools to integrate your emotional realities, so they focus on interrupting the mechanisms that create the symptom.  (did you catch that pun?  Operates, ha!) 

I usually argue against the mechanistic view of the world and its take on health because we're not machines.  We’re alive!  And we’re not “living machines” because we can connect with all other living beings.  

And health advice from this perspective often leads to unforeseen downstream consequences.  This is how people end up taking a pill to mitigate the symptoms created by the previous pill, and so on.

BUT, hypnosis allows us to find a middle ground that minimizes the adverse effects of the mechanistic model.

The body turns off the involuntary muscles responses while you sleep.  This is why you don’t actually run if you dream that you’re running.  It’s also why nocturnal bruxism is classified as a movement disorder.  Because the system that is supposed to “turn off” your jaw muscles isn’t working correctly.

Think about strategies #3 and #4 above… sedative, muscle relaxants and botox.  You can see how these are attempting to prevent the jaw muscle from being able to clench.

With what I’m calling “Hypnotic Botox”, we’ll teach your unconscious mind 2 important skills…

1. to immediately follow a “tighten” signal with a “relax” signal

2. to prevent the “tighten” signal from being sent to the jaw

Eventually, your unconscious mind can learn to stop sending the “tighten” signal when it’s not beneficial.  In the meantime, you can relax the muscle immediately after it starts to contract so that you avoid the issue.

Basically, the only reason that muscles tighten is because they get a signal from the brain that says “tighten”.  Hypnosis allows you to “program” your unconscious responses in this both/and way.

Hypnosis minimizes &/or avoids side-effects by honouring your body’s innate wisdom.

Hypnosis has an added benefit that those other mechanistic strategies don’t have.  This is what avoids those “downstream” adverse effects of suppressing symptoms.

Every action is an attempt to meet needs, even teeth grinding.  Just because we don’t understand it yet, doesn’t mean we can suppress it without consequence.

Hypnosis allows your unconscious mind to find other, non-destructive ways of communicating whatever it’s trying to communicate.  PLUS, by creating dialogue between your conscious and unconscious mind, you can learn what it was trying to say when it started grinding teeth in the first place.

The Offer:  Let’s Put Teeth Grinding Behind You

Now, you’ve made it this far which means you truly want to stop grinding your teeth.  It also means you’re interested in hypnosis as a modality that you can see helping you make some significant changes.

I work with people 1-on-1, using hypnosis, to teach your unconscious mind how you can finally be done with it.  

Apply now for your FREE 30 minute Hypnosis Strategy Session…

This is a chance for us to meet and for you to share the broad strokes of your story so far.  Mainly, it gives us both the opportunity to assess whether I’m the one to help you put this behind you. 

Once it’s clear that I can help you, I’ll invite you to continue with process. 

(If I’m not the right one to help, I’ll happily refer you to someone who I think will have the resources you need)

From here, new clients start with a 5 session bundle.  The first session is 90 minutes, so that we can get you familiar with easily going into trance (“hypnosis”) and clarify the results we’re heading for.  The remaining 4 are about 1 hour each.

I can’t say from behind this webpage how many sessions you’ll need to make this change in a way that you’re totally satisfied with.  It may be that you don’t need all of the first bundle or it may be that you’ll benefit from further support.  From here, you can choose between single sessions or a bundle of 3 or 5 sessions.

In either case, we’ll talk about this as we go so that you can have clarity and agency throughout our healing work together 🙂

Your Next Step →

Rates…

1 hr sessions: $150

5 Sessions: $650*

*payment plans are available

Got questions?

… or comments that you want to share before we speak live, please drop me an email with the following form …