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Clenching is a stress habit with a physical cost

You cannot manually release your way out of a habit you repeat every day. What the sessions do, and what has to happen between them.

A clenched hand on a greige ground in side light

Daytime is the half nobody addresses

Most people who grind at night also clench during the day: in traffic, on calls, at a screen. The daytime version is quieter and more frequent, and it undoes session work faster than the night does.

The test: right now, without adjusting anything, are your back teeth touching? At rest they should not be.

What I ask for between sessions

One thing, not ten. A reminder twice a day to check whether your teeth are touching, and to let the jaw hang for thirty seconds if they are. That is it.

Sessions release the muscle. The check stops it rebuilding the same pattern by Friday.

Written by

Haus of Contour, Plaza America in Reston and Westpark Drive in Tysons, Virginia.

Related treatment

The Lift: 45 minutes, plus the between-session work that matters.

Read the jaw protocol

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