Hello,
Has anyone here started grinding their teeth after a traumatic event? If so, I am wondering if some people have naturally stopped grinding when this is the cause of their grinding?
My mom told me she started grinding her teeth in her twenties due to stress at work, but she eventually stopped grinding. She said I will probably not grind my teeth forever either.
However, my mom found out she was grinding her teeth after a dentist told her that her teeth were being destroyed, and she had no idea that was happening! No symptoms were noticeable to her, such as pain, etc.
I found out after googling my symptoms, because it happened so fast there weren't any signs of damage to my teeth yet, just ear pain for a few months, and eventually, terrible jaw pain.
A traumatic event absolutely triggered my grinding. I have no doubts about this because there was absolutely no ear or jaw pain EVER. Then the event happened, and boom, I began experiencing ear pain almost immediately (within a few days). And again, it hadn't been going on for long because my dentist noticed zero signs of it when examining my teeth.
Basically, I was wondering if anyone else had their grinding begin after a traumatic event, instead of just general life stress/anxiety. I was wondering if anyone else noticed it get less worse or go away over time. I am hoping one day I will stop grinding. It's kind of a bad reminder of this traumatic event. My night guard absolutely relieves my symptoms, but now I've come to realize I will most likely need to buy a replacement night guard once a year or less. Which means every 9 months or so, for the forseeable future, I will start to experience ear pain and jaw pain again (due to my night guard being worn down), and then I will have to shell out a few hundred dollars to have a heavy-duty night guard made, all while dealing with the pain of the symptoms reemerging as well as be reminded of the memory of why/how this all started in this first place.

Just to clarify, in normal day-to-day life, I am not terribly bothered by this traumatic event any more. Luckily, my PTSD went away with some therapy and time, and I can now think about and/or discuss the event without too much pain. What I'm trying to say is- I'm not suffering anymore. I truly feel like I healed.. and maybe this is too much of hopeful thinking, but i'm just thinking: OK. I healed, I got therapy, I honestly, truly feel SO much better -- so when the heck is this teeth grinding gonna stop?!?!?!? Like if the event triggered it, won't healing from the event put an end to it?? It makes me feel like I'm going to be followed around by this reminder for the rest of my life.
Anyway, any relevant experience or tips would be greatly appreciated . Thanks!!