I started wearing my mouth guard again last night. (As though I need one more example of why I am the opposite of inspirational…) I went to my six-month dentist appointment and had to have a filling replaced because I grind my teeth, which is something I know but don’t do much about. Thankfully, I guess, they were able to repair it immediately following my cleaning, but I decided to do my best not to further the damage to the filling in the tooth immediately below the repaired one.
I’ve tried this method before. Basically, I hate the mouthguard. I’ve had it fit twice, and they swear it is working exactly how it should work, but it feels kind of like I should be playing football and less like I should be sleeping. I sort of feel like I’m suffocating or choking, which is obviously anxiety and not what’s really happening in my mouth, but it’s not exactly like that feeling makes it easy to fall asleep.
As much as I hate the mouthguard, I hate the idea of cracking my teeth even more, plus I think it’s starting to erode my gums, and why isn’t there just a method that would teach me NOT to grind my teeth in my sleep?
So in went the mouthguard. On went the pink noise, which I should write about a different day, when I’m not so focused on annoyances and more focused on things that might help with annoyances. Sip of water. Try to determine if I swallowed the water around the mouthguard. Go to the bathroom one more time. Turn up the pink noise another notch.
I woke up a couple of times during the night, which isn’t unusual. I check the time each time, try and fail not to calculate how much time I have left before my alarm(s) start chiming.
By the 3:00 a.m. wake up, I felt like the mouthguard had made a successful first time back in the bedtime rotation, and I tossed it onto the nightstand.
We will see if I can make it until 3:30 tonight.
Leave a Reply