For years I’d wake up feeling like someone had punched me in the jaw. Bruxism, to give it its official name, is a condition where teeth involuntarily grind together, often in sleep. The NHS lists the causes of teeth-grinding as “stress and anxiety” and about 10 percent of the population do it. For most it’s a mild irritation; for me it got so bad a dentist instructed me to sleep wearing a mouthguard, like a rugby player getting ready for a scrum. It was that or lose my teeth by 40.
The ordeal reached its nadir when I arrived at work one morning, bit down on a Pret A Manger baguette and felt my front tooth snap clean off. I had to wear a denture for six months: I’d bypassed 40 and jumped straight to 80. I got a replacement front tooth but the grinding continued.
