Question:
My 11 month old has 5 teeth and this past week has started grinding
them on occasion. Anything I can do to stop this? It's loud and
sounds soo bad. I am a mild grinder myself but at least I'm aware of
it and can take precausions to stop. He's way to young for this.
Answer:
We went through this with DS. We couldn't figure out a way to discourage it
so we ignored it. He stopped after a while [a couple months, iirc]. I
suspect this may be a normal growth and developmental stage thing as I have
since heard many parents discuss this question with kids about your little
one's age up through about 18 months old. I wonder if it is simply
exploring what these new things in the mouth do.
DD also grinds her teeth (she's 5 years old) and when we asked the dentist
about this, she said that this is very common and the kids don't necessarily
become adult grinders (different causes). She told us not to worry about
it.
You may want to ask your pediatrician about it if you are worried.
DS did this at the same age. I pretty much ignored it and he stopped after a
couple weeks. I think it was just something he was exploring.
I dont know if there is anything you can really do.....
My son also did this and we ignored it and it stoped, at least we thought it
did.
Then one day when he was 4 I noticed NO enamel on the top of his teeth...his
molars. We went to the dentist who said, this was caused by teeth grinding.
All you can do is when they are older put in a mouth guard at night, as this
is when most of the gringing is done.
Anyway.....just thought I would let you know our experience with grinding
Our 25 month old DD started it about the same age - she was using grinding
teeth to imitate the frog's "ribbit" - I try to ignore it, but the only way
is by not asking her to imitate the frog sound, although when she sees a
picture of frog she will say "ffffff...og.. "
I am a sleep teeth grinder, hope it is not hereditary
Are his teeth genetically imperfect in some way? IOW, any X rays done to probe
the cause of grinding? Bite?
Can sealants be applied if he grinds 2nd teeth? And will this keep the enamel
from being further eroded?
You can try the dentistry NG also. I am not sure if this topic has been
explored there.
