Ever found yourself waking up with terrible jaw pain? You may be taking the stress of the day out on your teeth at night.

Teeth grinding, formally known as bruxism, is a condition that causes you to grind or clench your teeth unconsciously when awake or while sleeping.

According to dentist Recep Eşkar of Hospitadent Dental Hospital, bruxism is one of the most common sleep-related disorders observed in those who snore or have a tendency to talk in their sleep.

Seen in one in five people in Turkey, teeth grinding is the third most prevalent sleeping disorder.

Whether it’s the chaos of urban life or pressure from work, stress from various facets of life can seriously mess with our sleeping habits and eventually manifest themselves in bruxism, aka teeth grinding, Eşkal says. Teeth grinding is the act of rubbing the upper and lower jaw plates together.

Eşkar says the causes behind teeth grinding are manifold and beyond stress, can also lay in personal characteristics, sleeping patterns, respiratory disorders, trauma, central nervous system disorders, drug abuse, use of drug treatments (such as serotonin), alcohol and caffeine consumption and smoking. He said patients often don't even realize that they are grinding their teeth while asleep and go to the doctor with complaints of general sensitivity in their mouth, noticing shaky teeth or breakages, a loss of feeling, gum damage, uncomfortable jawbones and headaches.

"While a majority of the research related to bruxism points to the central nervous system, a number of studies have also described the disorder as a manifestation of emotional hypersensitivity, anger, stress, delusions, imbalanced diet, inactivity and keeping everything under one's control.

Eşkal says the need to be in control of everything can act as one of the main driving forces behind bruxism and most of the time starts involuntarily. The patient's spouse or friends are usually the first to spot such symptoms.

So, could you be suffering from chronic teeth grinding?

If you feel pain in your cheeks when you get up in the morning, have constraints in your jaw movements, cannot open your mouth comfortably or have pain when opening it wide and continue to suffer throughout the day, have pain spreading toward your ears and head or hear unusual "clicks" when you open your mouth, you are very likely to be suffering from bruxism.

Reiterating that there are ways to reduce grinding and relax the jaw, Eşkar said: "The method of treatment mostly involves controlling the activity and preventing pathological or physical changes via night guards (mouth guards) or orthopedic appliances called splints."

These appliances, which are tailored to each individual, can be made out of soft or hard materials according to the level of discomfort the patient experiences.

"Such dental appliances help prevent the abrasion of the tooth enamel that may occur as a result of teeth grinding, loose teeth and even prevent tooth loss. Here, regular use is essential," he said.

However, determining the underlying cause is the most crucial step as stress-related problems can take their toll on other body parts and damage health. Eşkal has advised getting help from a specialist to uncover any causes of stress to manage it more effectively.