Since childhood, I have awakened in the morning with outer ear pain and chalked it up to sleeping on my ear wrong. As an adult, I finally figured it out: teeth grinding while I sleep. Sure enough, my dentist told me how the ear muscles get so worn out (not to mention teeth!) that the pain feels like the ear has been folded in half and laid on.


He made me a retainer to wear at night. Comfortable and affordable ($150). The worst part about it was having to sit for about 5 minutes with the goop in my mouth until it formed a cast. The rest has been easy peasy. Hoping this information helps someone else. Wearing down your teeth is not good either.