How Old is Bruxism?
The problem of people clenching and grinding their teeth is documented so far back in history that the ancient Greeks had a word for it (βρυγμός (brugmós)). And as you might suspect, since the medical profession seems to like to use words that many people don’t understand, you will most often hear doctors and dentists refer to teeth grinding and clenching as “bruxism” (from the ancient Greek, of course). Okay, perhaps the doctors and dentists deserve a break on this one, at least in the sense that the noun “bruxism” is easier to say than the phrase “grinding and/or clenching of teeth”, and the verb “brux” is easier to say than the phrase “clench and/or grind your teeth”.
