Not only ordinary people suffer the agony of a clenching jaw. Katie Price, a popular author and celebrity model is also known to suffer from teeth grinding resulting in the clenching jaw. Born as Katie Infield in East Sussex, England but decided to change her surname when her mother remarried. She started modeling at a young age.
When she was thirteen, she modeled for a clothing line. A friend suggested to her to had professional pictures taken and advised to pursue her modeling career.
The pictures were sent to a modeling agency in London, and in 1996 she was offered a job at Page Three, a topless female glamor model pictorial in a British tabloid newspaper. She adopted the name Jordan in 1996 and made frequent appearances as a model on both Page Three and in men’s lifestyle magazines.
Like Jordan, she was famous for her surgically-enhanced breasts. At nineteen, she had the first in a series of breast-enhancement surgeries. Discontented with her breasts from an early age and despite her family’s disapproval, she went ahead with the procedure because she felt that big breasts will make her look sexier.
She wrote four autobiographies, a series of children’s books and had a regular column in a magazine. She was also a singer and released a few albums in the United Kingdom.
Katie’s Dilemma
Because of her busy and stressful schedules, Katie suffered from the distress of teeth grinding leading to clenching jaw called “Bruxism”. Bruxism is the medical term for teeth grinding and jaw clenching which usually occurs while sleeping.
Like many patients, Katie was diagnosed when she visited her dentist in Los Angeles. She needed her teeth veneers fixed again because they had become loose. These symptoms along with cracking crowns or fillings can emphasize a more serious dental problem.
- The clenching jaw as being part of the dilemma is caused by stress. It can also cause other dental problems such as headaches, which if re-occurring early in the morning and on occasion significant jaw pain called Temporomandibular joint disorder is known as TMJ.
- Around 10-20% of the population will suffer at any time, and like Katie, most will experience when stressed. It can occur at any age, with the 35-55 age groups being more prone to the condition. According to studies, more women suffer from the dilemma of jaw clenching than men.
Experts’ Advice
According to the experts, applying lifestyle changes and stress-reduction techniques can help prevent clenching jaw. Simple changes such as listening to relaxing music or a warm bath prior to bedtime should be considered. Dental guards only protect the teeth and dental work from further damage that often results from clenching and grinding.
It is better for a person to have a brighter outlook in life. As for Katie, she isn’t dwelling on the past too much and hopes to move on from her dental problems, telling that she tries to live every day as though it is her last, she also offered some words of wisdom, saying ‘You only live once and you’re a long time dead, so enjoy it.’