Question:
My 9 year old grinds her teeth in her sleep. I don't know how long this
has been going on, I just recently started sharing a room with her.
I'm sure this can't be good for her teeth (not to mention my sleep!).
Anyone had any experience with this?
Answer:
My son was a serious tooth grinder when he was 9 as well (and before). The
dentist didn't seem too concerned with it--apparently children almost always
outgrow it, and if it's not doing any harm to permanent teeth they don't feel
the need to act. You can get night guards ( like soccer mouth guards) that
they can sleep with in their mouths, but we decided just to wait it out. It
has gotten much better, although it is not completely gone. But it can be
incredibly loud! How do they make that racket?!
Some people seem to think its related to stress and some seem to think it's
just something kids do.
I don't grinding teeth is specially bad for the teeth. I used to do it at the
same age and I don't think my teeth is damaged in any way. It might be due to
nightmares. I still grind my teeth sometimes, and I believe it's worse for
the one who has to listen than the teeth.
I ground my teeth as a child, I have never stopped. I seriously recommend you
get your child fitted with a night guard to protect the teeth and jaws.
I had surgery on my jaws to remove all the scar tissue from 30+ years of
grinding. It was not pleasant, but was successful. Teach your child, if
possible, to keep the teeth always apart. The only time your teeth
should have contact (top to bottom) is when chewing or swallowing. This
will help to relieve the stress on the jaw.
Our son (2 years old) grinds his teeth in his sleep. If it is stress related should we be worried?
As far as I can tell he is very happy and jolly all the time.
There have been occasional posts on bruxing (i think thats the right
spelling) in other news groups. The main point common in the replies
here - its the noise for others, is the probably most pertinent.
Mouth guards do reduce the noise to very little and are worth it, but
need to be kept scrupulously clean.
I once knew a dentist who had been involved in post-grad research
on the topic - and in his opinion there's roughly 50% stress. 50%
natural muscular contraction process related to the problem - so
it would appear from indirect hearsay (sic) that there's no need
to be concerned. Some theories on bruxism (maybe that's the better
spelling) relate diet as contributory but i dont know why or how,
and yet another claims vitamin calcium deficiency contributes.
