Jaw clenching and teeth grinding are often blamed on stress. While stress can play an important role, current research suggests that bruxism is more complex than a simple stress response.
Understanding what may be contributing to bruxism is important because different patterns may require different approaches to management.
What is bruxism?
Bruxism refers to repetitive activity of the jaw muscles that can include clenching or grinding the teeth, or bracing or thrusting the jaw.
Importantly, researchers now distinguish between two forms: awake bruxism, which occurs while a person is awake, and sleep bruxism, which occurs during sleep. These are not necessarily the same behaviour occurring at different times of the day and may involve different contributing mechanisms (Lobbezoo et al., 2018).
This distinction helps explain why there is unlikely to be one treatment that works for everybody experiencing bruxism.
Stress can matter — particularly when we are awake
Psychological and behavioural factors appear to be particularly relevant to awake bruxism.
People may notice themselves clenching their jaw when concentrating, working under pressure, driving, dealing with conflict or experiencing stress. Sometimes the behaviour becomes so habitual that it occurs with very little conscious awareness.
A recent systematic review of awake bruxism found that behavioural approaches including habit reversal, reminder strategies, counselling, self-management and biofeedback showed promising results, although the researchers emphasised that the overall evidence remains limited (Manfredini et al., 2026).
This suggests that identifying when and why clenching occurs may be an important part of managing awake bruxism rather than simply trying to force the jaw to stop clenching.
Sleep bruxism is different
Grinding or clenching during sleep cannot simply be assumed to have the same cause as daytime clenching.
Sleep bruxism involves masticatory muscle activity occurring during sleep and is increasingly understood within the broader physiology of sleep rather than purely as a psychological behaviour (Lobbezoo et al., 2018).
Research into treatments including oral appliances, behavioural approaches, biofeedback and pharmacological interventions has produced mixed results. A systematic review of adult sleep bruxism concluded that although several interventions may influence particular measures of bruxism, evidence supporting some commonly proposed behavioural approaches remains limited (Minakuchi et al., 2022).
For someone experiencing nighttime grinding, appropriate dental or medical assessment may therefore be important alongside consideration of psychological or behavioural contributors.
Why simply saying “stop clenching” often doesn’t work
One of the difficulties with awake bruxism is that jaw tension can become habitual and occur automatically.
A person may consciously relax their jaw and then discover ten minutes later that they are clenching again. This does not necessarily mean they are failing to control the behaviour. It may mean that the pattern has become associated with particular situations, emotions or activities.
Behavioural research supports approaches that increase awareness and interrupt these patterns. A systematic review examining biofeedback for awake bruxism, for example, found evidence that auditory and visual feedback may reduce excessive jaw-muscle activity in the short term, although the quality of the available research remains limited (Melo et al., 2023).
Increasing awareness of the behaviour may therefore be one component of helping a person develop a different response.
There is no single treatment for bruxism
Current research does not support one universally effective treatment for every person with bruxism.
A recent systematic review examining treatment outcomes across multiple interventions concluded that approaches including occlusal splints, biofeedback and other therapies can produce benefits for some people, but no single intervention is consistently effective for everyone. The authors suggested that multidisciplinary management may provide the most appropriate approach in some cases (Alqutaibi et al., 2025).
This is important because bruxism can involve different combinations of dental, muscular, behavioural, psychological and sleep-related factors.
Treatment should therefore begin with understanding the individual pattern rather than assuming every case has the same cause.
Where can psychological therapy and clinical hypnotherapy fit?
At MindHeal, the psychological and behavioural components of jaw clenching are considered alongside other possible contributors.
For some people, treatment may involve developing awareness of when clenching occurs, learning to reduce physical and emotional arousal, identifying triggers and changing habitual responses.
Clinical hypnotherapy may also be incorporated where appropriate to support relaxation, awareness and behavioural change. However, the evidence specifically supporting hypnotherapy as a treatment for bruxism is currently much less developed than the broader evidence relating to behavioural interventions.
For this reason, MindHeal does not position hypnotherapy as a proven cure for bruxism.
Instead, it may form one part of an individualised approach, particularly when stress, tension, emotional triggers or habitual clenching appear to be contributing to the person’s experience.
A more useful question
Rather than asking:
“How do I make myself stop clenching?”
it may be more useful to ask:
“What is contributing to my clenching, and what needs to change?”
That may involve your dentist or doctor. It may involve sleep assessment. It may involve changing daytime habits. And for some people, it may also involve addressing stress, emotional responses and learned patterns.
Understanding the pattern is the first step towards determining an appropriate response.
Concerned about jaw clenching or teeth grinding?
MindHeal’s Bruxism & Jaw Clenching Support Program takes a structured approach to exploring the factors that may be contributing to your symptoms and developing an individual treatment plan.
Where appropriate, this can include counselling, clinical hypnotherapy, behavioural strategies and EMDR, while recognising when dental or medical assessment should form part of your care.
Regulate. Process. Rewire.
References
Alqutaibi, A. Y., et al. (2025). Bruxism treatment outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000046247
Lobbezoo, F., Ahlberg, J., Raphael, K. G., Wetselaar, P., Glaros, A. G., Kato, T., Santiago, V., Winocur, E., De Laat, A., De Leeuw, R., Koyano, K., Lavigne, G. J., Svensson, P., & Manfredini, D. (2018). International consensus on the assessment of bruxism: Report of a work in progress. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, 45(11), 837–844. https://doi.org/10.1111/joor.12663
Manfredini, D., et al. (2026). Management of awake bruxism: A systematic review. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation.
Melo, G., et al. (2023). Effectiveness of biofeedback in individuals with awake bruxism compared to other types of treatment: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3).
Minakuchi, H., Fujisawa, M., Abe, Y., Iida, T., Oki, K., Okura, K., Tanabe, N., & Nishiyama, A. (2022). Managements of sleep bruxism in adult: A systematic review. Japanese Dental Science Review, 58, 124–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdsr.2022.02.004
