If you've started grinding your teeth lately, you are not alone.
Dentists have noticed a dramatic increase in teeth-grinding-related problems.
President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Dental Association Jeremy Sternson said 2021 had been the year of the cracked tooth.
"Normally in a year you may see a handful of these patients but we were seeing three or four of these a day," he said.
Dr Sternson, who is a practising dentist in Melbourne and has worked as a dentist for 25 years, said many of his patients with cracked teeth had never experienced problems with grinding before.
"We were only open for emergency and urgent care and the majority of urgent work we were seeing was people coming in splitting teeth that had never been split before — teeth that had never even had a filling in them," he said.
So who has been grinding their teeth more?
Emily Pow is a dentist in Melbourne and a Victorian Dental Association councillor.
Dr Pow said there was a certain age group who had been grinding their teeth more.
"It's people from mostly the young to middle-aged groups," she said.
Dr Sternson agreed.
"A classic example is a mother who is also a teacher who was homeschooling," he said.
"She came in and she had had very little dental work in the past. She'd split her tooth clean in half and it had to be removed."
Dr Pow said the whole spectrum of symptoms from grinding teeth had increased this year.
"People are saying they have pain around their jaws when waking. People are getting headaches with it, lots of muscle tension and it's all related.
"I've been issuing more nightguards. Certainly, things have gotten worse [in 2021]."
It's well known that grinding teeth is a symptom of stress.
Dr Pow said the stress of lockdowns would have played a part in the increase in tooth grinding.
"I'm seeing more and more teeth grinding in people because of the stress from coming in and out of lockdowns and the uncertainty — the constant changes back and forth," she said.
Dr Sternson said while there was no organised data, among dentists in Victoria it was common knowledge teeth-grinding-related problems had increased during 2021.
"It's one of the things that most of us are seeing and talking about, more jaw and grinding problems than we've ever seen before."
Michael Jonas is president of the NSW branch of the Australian Dental Association and has a dental practice in Tamworth.
Dr Jonas said during the COVID pandemic he had also seen an increase in people grinding their teeth.
"There certainly has been a change," he said.
"This is anecdotal but I'm seeing it and my colleagues in Sydney are repeating the same thing, an uptick in people with grinding issues."
