Economic downturn blamed for for increase in teeth-grinding

Dentists are warning today of an increase in the number of patients who grind their teeth since the start of the economic downturn.

Stress or anxiety is widely believed to be a contributing factor, and many dentists feel this explains the surge in patients with problems in recent years.

Tooth grinding affects somewhere between 8-20% of the population.

Many experts believe it may be much more prevalent than this, with possibly up to one million people in Ireland alone grinding their teeth.

Dublin-based dentist Dr Michael Crowe said that teeth-grinding usually occurs at night and can go unnoticed.

"Symptoms will include things like soreness or stiffness of the jaw, headaches, or even people becoming more aware of wear on their teeth," he said.

"So there certainly seems to be a significant increase in the prevalence of this and as stress and anxiety are directly related to this, we can reasonably assume that in the current (economic) clime from the last number of years, this must have had some contribution to this phenomenon."