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Comment by gandutraveler | Hacker News Reader

I never used to grid the teeth but in last 6 years due to work stress I put on weight, sleeping cycle got messed up and just last year in may my dentist told me that I grind my teeth. I tried the mouth guard for few months which seemed to work. But these things are expensive. 6 months back I was also diagnosed with sleep apnea so the sleep specialist suggested CPAP. Surprisingly with the CPAP machine I have completely stopped grinding my teeth. It makes me wonder that teeth grinding is highly correlated to breathing and quality of sleep.

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> It makes me wonder that teeth grinding is highly correlated to breathing and quality of sleep.

I'm a respiratory therapist and grinding is highly common with sleep apnea. Basically, the brain stimulates the jaw to try and move in an attempt to open the airway when it's not getting enough oxygen. Losing weight, getting tonsils out (if you still have them), fixing a deviated septum and soft tissue removal (basically, an ENT does a rotor rooter to the upper throat area) or surgery to bring the jaw forward all can help.

60% of the time, losing 30-40lbs will correct it for the majority of people grinding. CPAP helps immensely as well.

I’m quite skinny already, but definitely don’t feel refreshed after sleep.

I visited an ENT once for chronic fatigue. I was told that I had a slightly deviated septum from a possible childhood injury, but surgical correction was optional. Do you think it would be worth fixing? I’m apprehensive about going under a knife.

I currently only breathe through one nostril at a time, but the one I breathe from changes randomly.

I suffered the same thing (deviated septum runs in the family it seems). I just got the septoplasty and a turbinate reduction done (3 weeks ago) and even though I'm not fully recovered I can already breathe better than ever before. The recovery was also very easy. I highly, highly recommend it.

do you breathe through both nostrils now? how bad was your deviated septum?

your procedure sounds terrifying, and I’d prefer to do something minimally invasive if possible. I wonder if you can do a septoplasty via physical realignment rather than cutting anything open.

I can! And previously could not. The process isn't bad, and isn't terribly invasive. I had a sore nose for a few days, took Tylenol to recover, and was back at work 4 days later (sat, sun, Monday off, Tuesday half capacity, Wednesday back in full). Got the stents out Thursday.

My surgeon characterized my septum as "not the worst he's ever seen but definitely not minor". If you're around Seattle, it was Chris Yang at Swedish who did it.

> I currently only breathe through one nostril at a time, but the one I breathe from changes randomly.

This is normal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle

Would losing 5-10 pounds make any difference in some edge cases? With ten pounds off I would have a six pack, 15 at most.

For those considering mouth guards, they're expensive only if you buy them from the dentist. They cost about $10 each in packs of two from Amazon. You fit them yourself by heating them up in hot water. Unless you're really shredding it at night, and you take care of it by brushing it when you brush your teeth in the morning, each one can last at least a year.

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