Bruxism of bruxism. Clenching the teeth is generally displayed by humans and other animals as a display of anger, hostility or frustration. It is thought that in humans, clenching the teeth may be an evolutionary instinct to display teeth as weapons, thereby threatening a rival or a predator. The phrase "to grit one's teeth" is the grinding or clenching of the teeth in anger, or to accept a difficult or unpleasant situation and deal with it in a determined way. In the Bible there are several references to "gnashing of teeth" in both the Old Testament, and the New Testament, where
Bruxism to evaluate in which situations bruxism is most prevalent. Many different medications have been used to treat bruxism, including benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, beta blockers, dopamine agents, antidepressants, muscle relaxants, and others. However, there is little, if any, evidence for their respective and comparative efficacies with each other and when compared to a placebo. A multiyear systematic review to investigate the evidence for drug treatments in sleep bruxism published in 2014 ("Pharmacotherapy for Sleep Bruxism". Macedo, et al.) found "insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for the treatment of sleep bruxism." Specific drugs that have been studied in sleep bruxism are