Jaw exercises and teeth clenching for people at a desk

If your jaw is tight by the end of a deadline day, your temples ache dully, or you wake up with tired chewing muscles, teeth clenching is often behind it. A daytime clenching habit can usually be broken, and a few gentle jaw exercises for a few minutes a day can help a lot. Grinding at night is a different matter: there, the main protection is a splint made by your dentist. Below we cover both, and show six simple exercises you can do at your desk.

Do you clench by day or grind at night?

It helps to treat clenching and grinding (bruxism) as two separate situations:

• Daytime clenching: mostly an unconscious habit. When you concentrate, are stressed, work out or stare at the screen, your teeth meet and the chewing muscles work for minutes or hours. Consciously changing the habit helps most here.
• Night-time grinding: happens in your sleep, involuntarily. Often your partner hears it, or your dentist spots it on worn teeth. Your dentist can make an occlusal splint (night guard) that protects the teeth. Exercises and relaxation are add-ons here.

The two can happen together. If your jaw hurts in the morning, your teeth are wearing, or you snore and feel tired during the day, talk to your dentist and your GP: night-time grinding sometimes goes together with a sleep disorder.

How do you break a daytime clenching habit?

The basic position is simple and worth remembering: lips together, teeth apart, tongue on the roof of your mouth. At rest, there are a few millimetres between your upper and lower teeth, the tip of your tongue rests on the roof of your mouth just behind your upper front teeth, and your face is relaxed.

The catch is that you don’t feel clenching while you do it. So you need reminders:

• put a small sticker on the edge of your monitor, your laptop or the back of your phone; every time you see it, check your jaw
• set an hourly reminder, the one you would use for a movement break anyway
• tie it to something you do every day: sending an email, the start of a meeting, a red light, the lift

In the first few days you will catch yourself surprisingly often. That is a good sign: it shows you are paying attention. Within a few weeks, a relaxed jaw becomes a habit too.

Stress and clenching are closely linked. If your jaw is always tight by the end of the day, it is not only the muscles that need to relax: a short walk at lunchtime, regular sleep and exercise are part of the treatment too. We describe how to set up your desk in our article on office ergonomics.

6 gentle jaw exercises

Physiotherapists often give these exercises as homework for jaw problems. Do them slowly, in front of a mirror, once or twice a day. None of them should hurt: a mild stretch is fine, but if you feel pain, locking or louder clicking, stop and get a professional opinion.

1. Find the rest position. Lips together, teeth apart, tongue on the roof of your mouth. Breathe slowly through your nose and let your face relax. Hold for half a minute. This is the starting point for all the others.
2. Controlled opening with the tongue up. Keep the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth and slowly open as far as you can while the tongue stays in place. Close again. 6 times. This is a small, gentle opening that doesn’t load the disc.
3. Straight opening in the mirror. Watch the middle of your chin and slowly open so that it moves straight down, without drifting to one side. If it drifts, open less and go slower. 6 times.
4. Opening against resistance. Place your thumb under your chin and open slowly against light resistance. Hold for 3 seconds, then relax. 6 times. Keep the force small; this is not a fight.
5. Release the chewing muscles. Find the muscle at the angle of your jaw that tightens when you clench. Let your teeth part, and massage it gently in small circles for a minute on each side. Then do the same at the temples.
6. Chin tuck for the neck. Sitting upright, draw your chin back as if making a double chin, hold for 5 seconds, then relax. 6 times. For people who sit at a screen a lot, neck and jaw tension often go together.

These are general exercises and do not replace an examination. If your problem doesn’t improve, a physiotherapist will check which exercises suit you and which to leave out. If your neck often hurts too, our article on office neck pain has more exercises you can do at your desk.

When to see a dentist, and when a physio?

See a dentist if your teeth are wearing or sensitive, if you might be grinding at night, if your bite has changed, or if your jaw clicks or locks. The dentist decides whether you need a splint, and if so, which kind.

See a physiotherapist if the chewing muscles, temples or neck are tight, if the exercises and habit changes above haven’t helped after two or three weeks, or if you aren’t sure you are doing the exercises right. The physio assesses your opening and your chewing and neck muscles, and gives you a set of exercises tailored to you. Our article on jaw clicking also explains which specialist suits which problem.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to stop clenching during the day?

It varies from person to person, but many people catch themselves much less often after two to four weeks of paying attention. Reminders matter most: until you watch for it, you won’t notice that you are clenching.

Do exercises help with grinding at night?

They don’t stop it directly, because it happens in your sleep. A splint made by your dentist protects the teeth. Exercises and relaxation can help the chewing muscles feel less tired and sore in the morning.

How often should I do the exercises?

Once or twice a day, for a few minutes each time. You can check the rest position (lips together, teeth apart, tongue up) as often as you like during the day.

Do I need a splint if I only clench during the day?

Usually not: for daytime clenching, changing the habit helps most. Whether you need a splint is for your dentist to decide.

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A relaxed jaw doesn’t take much time: a sticker on your monitor, a few minutes of exercise a day, and more attention during stressful hours. If it still doesn’t improve, get an opinion from a dentist and a physiotherapist.

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