Biting tongue/clenching teeth in sleep?

[Emilym80]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anybody else has experienced biting their tongue when especially anxious? I had had a very bad day for anxiety a couple of days ago and found when brushing my teeth that I had bitten it on both sides, there are a couple of dents under one side (quite deep- I must've bitten it badly!) and a small sore on the other side on the edge.

Being very anxious in regards to my health, I immediately worried that I had had a seizure in my sleep since the pain didn't wake me up when it had happened (I had strained my neck too). I do, however, clench my teeth and possibly grind them so I was wondering if anybody has done this as a result of bruxism?

I'll probably ask my dr about it as I'm seeing him next week but as my bedclothes weren't tangled up, nothing had fallen from my bed (I had heaps of stuff on my bed) and I didn't have any bruises or anything, just a sore neck I'm trying not to worry too much about having had a seizure. I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry though!

I'd also like to get a bite guard to preserve my teeth but unfortunately I have braces. So does anybody have any tips that have helped them stop clenching their teeth other than therapy?

[Lilly13]

Hey Emily,

Does your jaw hurt at all? I think this is called scalloped tongue. You are probably grinding your teeth hard while you sleep, which causes you in turn to nibble on your tongue... I have this really bad on one side and barely visible on the other... I actually noticed that if I'm anxious while awake I tend to bite the side of my tongue unconsciously.... weird...

I'm sure you didn't have a seizure, if your jaw starts clicking you will know you have TMJ and scalloped tongue is a very common phenomenon of that.


Best,

Lilly :blush:

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Emilly,

Lilly is right and it can be associated with Bruxism. Usually from pressure of the tongue on the teeth I believe.

If you had bitten it during a seizure wouldnt bites be more on the top & underneath?

[Emilym80]

Hi guys,

Terry- no. My mum works with some epileptic kids and apparently bites on the margin (side) of the tongue are highly suggestive of seizures. Shouldn't have asked! But I imagine I just nipped it when I was grinding/clenching my teeth.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Ah, you learn something new everyday.

I think the presence of high anxiety and the fact you already do clench/grind is very suggestive of it being due to that.

Did you have a jaw ache that morning, maybe a headache? Grinding your sleep can do that.

You can have a seizure with certain mental health disorders, called a dissassociative seizure, where there is an attempt to cut off the traumatic thoughts. I don't know whether you can even have these in your sleep since they are a way to escape the anxiety but even if someone ever did, these are nothing like epileptic seizures. I know someone who had one once and he was under a lot of stress with no anxiety disorder but he's fine now and never had one since. So, don't worry about that but I try to explain this so that people don't automatically think of seizures as a bad thing and connected to epilsepsy.

[Emilym80]

I can't remember, to be honest. I think so! I remember mostly noticing my neck, because it was sore. My tongue didn't hurt that much, actually- I think, in hindsight, I'd probably bitten it that day when I was eating.

That happened to a girl I knew, too. She'd been ill for ages and we had to do a maths test at school. She fell onto the floor and had a tonic-clonic and her teacher thought she was faking to get out of the test!

Luckily he realised she wasn't and it was put down to stress, as far as I know.