It’s common knowledge amongst dentists that women grind their teeth more than men. In fact, the majority of patients referred to jaw specialists are women. The male dentists make those referrals casually and without much thought. They don’t stop to wonder about the root cause and why it is women in particular who are wearing down the hardest substance in the body. Nor do they wonder what contains more pressure than the normal 5,600 pounds of pressure that human teeth can withstand per square inch.
I imagine the female dentists make those referrals and understand exactly why women are clamping their teeth shut so hard the enamel is wearing away. The minute I found out about this I understood perfectly why it’s happening. I also couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Women grit their teeth because of all the things they cannot say. All the things they’re desperate to say. The screams they’re keeping clamped down between their pearly whites. The insurmountable stress of the to-do lists and the errands and the responsibility of keeping the house running, the fridge stocked, the kids in school, the husband happy, the in-laws happier, and the boss impressed. It’s all there, hidden between 32 teeth and a tight smile. If you sit very still, and listen very carefully, you can hear the tiny cracks across the world as women in the North, South, East, and West, clamp their jaws shut so tightly fault lines begin to appear across their cheeks.