Question:
My son is 12 months old and has started grinding his top and bottom
teeth together. This is going to drive me crazy! Is there anything I can
do to stop him from doing this? Is is going to hurt his teeth in any way?
I am worried that he might chip one of them. Does anyone have any advice
on this?
Answer:
My DH has done this his whole life (sorry). A dentist can fit him for a
mouth gaurd, it keeps the teeth from grinding together, but that's all
I know of.
My 10 month old does this. My husband found that if he starts making
a "clicking" sound (flicking your tounge off the roof of your mouth),
the baby stops grinding his teeth and trys to imitate Daddy. Works
for us!
Don't worry!! Grinding teeth is sooooooo normal. These little kids aren't
used to having funny things sticking out there and they have discovered
something fascinating. Let him look in the mirror at his teeth.
All three of my kids did the same things. It drove me crazy too. But
distracting them was the best way to get them to stop. It goes away by
itself after a while.
I missed the original question on this. My SO's 5 year old grinds his
teeth in his sleep. Is this normal too? He also talks out loud in his
sleep. Not yelling, but very loudly. Usually about his older brother.
"No, give it back. It's my toy." That sort of thing. It does seem to
be lessening, but what can you do about it? It's weird, cause he
will have complete conversations out loud, very clearly!
There are quite a few kids that grind their teeth. They usually are
preschool age and grind their baby teeth. Sometimes it is severe enough
to expose the dentin and literally flatten the teeth.
There is no consensus on treatment for this. At the most soft
mouthguards are recommended. Most children however "outgrow" this
problem and I avoid any unnecessary treatment.
Be very careful with kids grinding their teeth. My 7 year old son has
grinded his front teeth down to nothing, he must now go and get caps on
his teeth and he must sleep with a mouth piece in his mouth.
