Thank you. I have heard about biofeedback for clenching but have not been able to locate a specific device.. Was it easy to find someone to prescribe this? They say on the site it is prescription only. Also have you found out the cost?

Right now I am an American living in Germany so the cost will not be the same in America as it is in Europe.....I"m guessing it's cheaper in America. I'm guessing it could be in the range of $1,000(which to me sounds reasonable given how much things like splints cost, I also think this could be able to help people give up medications, which is another ongoing cost) Like it says on the website, call them and they can give you a list of providers who are using it.

If you do a google search you can also look up the research papers.........the research that I have seen shows that a lot of people are getting at least 80% reduction in grinding/clenching.

I also wanted to point out that this device has been officially recommended by the Swedish health authorities as a good, quality product with sound science behind it. Sweden has the #1 healthcare system in the world.

http://www.grindcare.com/us/News/swedish-health-authorities-recognise-grindcare.html

Another thing I wanted to add..........if you can find a dentist who uses this then you can do a trial BEFORE you buy.

A try before the buy would be awesome. It drives me nuts that treatment plans like neuromuscular dentistry want $5,000 just for the first round and there is no guarantee of anything and so little outcome data.

That is why TMJ is referred to as the money joint.......it sucks and I find it reprehensible that the ADA AND the AMA have chosen not to set protocols or standards of care for this. I'm also appalled that their is not more research into this.

I'm guessing just about ALL TMJ patients would be glad to pay the prices IF they were some proven science OR some sort of assurance to go with it.

Absolutely. I would be happy to pay $5k or $10k to fix this mess. But I really have no idea which expensive treatment path will be the next goose chase.

Check out their website again at www.grindcare.com/us. They're always linking to new double blind studies, and to dentists who'll rent these FDA approved, non-invasive units.

I bought one, in Europe, before you could rent from dentists in the USA. Renting is smart, because EMG (electromylography) sleep studies will tell you the truth, on whether you have chronic bruxing/clenching or not, one way or the other, yes or no.

EMG is the most effective, most accepted tool, for diagnosing chronic bruxing, properly called TMD (temporal mandibular disorder). Grindcare's ipod-bitty size, with ingenious no-mess disposable gel pads, gave me proper EMG sleep studies, for accurate diagnosis.

Why am I psyched about such a venerable techology as EMG? If you read studies that MOST TMJoint related pain is from TMD, not malocclusion (!!!), then EMG is really important. Means you want to diagnose, or rule out TMD, if you've been suffering TMJoint related pain.

I blew all my $$ on every TMJ related treatment, product, splint and surgery (except full titanium replacement, which the Mayo Clinic admits often fails to reduce pain). I'd have a mansion by now, if I'd been able to diagnose and stop my TMD first.

I was clenching hundreds of times a night, and am infinitely improved since I stopped. I still have the ugliest TMJoints possible in any deviation study, topo, 360, MRI, etc. But my pain levels are not completely disabling any more.

CES (contingent electrical stimulation) biofeedback, not TENS, interrupts your TMD to stop it, restoring disordered sleep.

EMG sleep studies monitor whatever treatment you try for stopping TMD, spitting out line charts intuitively readable by doctors, dentists, neurologists, and me. All my doctors made me demo the EMG/CES on later visits.

Summary: EMG diagnoses, and CES stops TMD. EMG with CES won't cure cancer, nor reverse all TMJoint related damage, because EMG/CES is for diagnosing and stopping TMD, period. If that's causing your pain, you'll love it. Although I found Grindcare's unit the easiest and most effective to use, I not a seller, nor am I connected to the product or company in any way. The escalating audible tone of the EMG headband, for example, seemed like a marriage bed breaker to me, compared to silent EMG with CES biofeedback.

An NIH study on EMG and bruxism pubmed/21564315 . An IADR on CES and bruxism is at 2010barce/webprogramcd/Paper138697.html

Good luck. Hope my errors and experiences save other people time/$$. I had a couple of friends with hereditary migraine, who spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars (!) assuming they have TMD. They were a little surprised when EMG meant they might do better to try cycling through migraine preventatives. EMG doesn't lead you on, it just literally uses leads, to monitor what's actually happening. For me, doctors stopped treating me like my diagnosis might be malingerer.

Despite painful years, where I couldn't do anything but diagnose-by-treatment, I'm proud I hung in there, until I learned enough to get relief. That was my main lesson. Don't give in to pain, keep trying to learn, no matter how hard pain makes the job. Hanging in and studying up eventually pays off.

I was at my wit's end trying to deal with my teeth grinding. I am so glad I found this discussion about GrindCare! I will try it and post to let you know how it works.