Celebrities are wealthy and beautiful but sometimes, they face the same challenges as normal people.

Stress and teeth grinding are two examples, and they are linked. Many celebrities struggle with grinding and clenching their teeth. Grinding, usually done at night, can wear away tooth enamel, causing teeth to crack or break. It can damage the jaw joint, too. Most of the time, stress is to blame, and famous people are not immune.
The grind is real for George Clooney, Brooke Shields and Chrissy Teigen, who all suffer from teeth grinding.

Because he’s an A-list actor, George Clooney’s smile is worth millions. Perhaps his cosmetic dentist should get a cut, however. Several years ago, Clooney had to get a full set of veneers because of the damage caused by his stress-induced teeth grinding. Clooney, star of Steven Soderbergh’s “Oceans” movies, explained that he grinds his teeth when he is stressed. Hopefully, George has learned his lesson and is using a mouth guard to prevent damage to his new teeth.

Teeth grinding can have serious consequences. Just check Brooke Shields’ Instagram. Brooke is one of the most beautiful and recognizable women in the world. She began modeling and acting as a child and became a supermodel, but her smile wasn’t always picture-perfect – and still isn’t, thanks to her grinding habit.
Just last year, Brooke posted a scary photo of herself at the dentist on Instagram with the caption, “More dental surgery! I grind my teeth!” In the photo, Brooke is wearing a sedation mask over her nose and cloth is draped around her neck as she lies flat in the dental chair, just before an operation. Brooke revealed she has undergone dental surgery on at least a few occasions to treat her teeth-grinding condition.

Another gorgeous model and actress, Chrissy Teigen, also has been open about the problems that teeth grinding causes her. She recalled a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, where she was filming a restaurant scene for “The Getaway,” a TV travel series. During one scene, some temporary restorations she’d had done on her teeth fell out and into her food. In an interview, Chrissy candidly said: “I was like, ‘Oh my god, is my tooth going to fall out on camera?’ This is going to be horrible.”

She managed to finish the scene while still looking beautiful, but said she was nervous. “I had chipped my front tooth so I had temporaries in,” she explained in the interview. “I’m a grinder. I grind like crazy at night time. I had temporary teeth in that I actually ground off on the flight to Thailand.”

Chrissy has shared selfies on Snapchat and Twitter of her wearing a mouth guard to protect her teeth from grinding. She titled one “Life of grind” and tweeted an explanation: “Today I had a tooth shaved down because crippling anxiety makes me grind and rock my teeth on one side.” She also revealed that she had to get Botox in her jaw to “relieve tension from constantly clenching.”

Studies show that one in 10 adults have dental issues resulting from teeth grinding in the United States. Whether you’re a supermodel or not, the grind is real, and so are the consequences of grinding your teeth. Like stress, it’s a problem that can affect anyone and can seriously damage your teeth. When teeth are constantly subjected to clenching and grinding, the enamel can quickly wear away. In time, teeth can become chipped, broken and worn down. Your teeth may become sensitive to hot and cold foods because of the lack of sufficient enamel. About half of teeth grinders report suffering headaches, sore teeth and jaw pain, due to the stress that grinding puts on jaw and face muscles.

Teeth grinding in the United States or anywhere else can affect anyone, whether you are a supermodel or superintendent. If you think you are a member of the grinders’ club with George, Brooke and Chrissy, visit your dentist and then find a good guard to protect your teeth from the nighttime grind. SleepRight offers quality no-boil dental guards and the ProX Custom dental guard to protect teeth. Guards with more durable bitepads are available for severe cases of teeth grinding in the United States. Find a guard that works for you at www.sleepright.com/products.

Written by Nikki Swartz