Q. What does teeth grinding mean? I think there is a horse in our barn that does it sometimes.

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A. Teeth grinding is one of those things that is difficult to describe, but you know it when you hear it. The sound is quite unique, a muffled rhythmic grinding, louder than the loudest gut sounds. And if you look closely, you can see the jaws moving in sync with the sound.

Teeth grinding is almost always associated with physical pain or discomfort probably of a fairly high degree. Teeth grinding can be associated with pain of various origins, but is a fairly common with gastrointestinal pain (belly ache)