Question:
Angela (2.5) had always had the habit of grinding her teeth, but it only
happened on rare occasions. Now, since her last hospital stay she's doing in
CONSTANTY! especially in her sleep.
Now, the noise doesn't bother me at all, but drives everyone else in the
house nuts. Not to mention the damage it's going to do to her teeth after
awhile.
I try to hold her chin in my hands and say "Angela no grinding" but I don't
think she "gets" what I'm telling her to not do. I give her a nuk toothbrush
to chew on but she doesn't want to chew on that.
So, does anyone have any clever suggestions?
Answer:
Boy, Maddie is the QUEEN of teeth grinding. I know that Maddie doesn't
get it when I tell her no grinding. So we do lots of massaging with her
mouth, inside on her gums, and outside on her cheeks. I think though that the
big thing that helped was using vibrators on her mouth. We have various kinds
and Maddie is tough with vibrators, but when we could get them near her mouth
and let her be the boss of how and where they go in her mouth, she LOVED it.
It really and truly helped. Every time I caught her grinding, I'd massage her
cheeks to make her stop (tough when our kids are in school all day.........but
ask the teachers or therapists to do the same). It really has made a huge
difference. Maddie is non-verbal and doesn't comprehend much language, but
she knows when we want her to stop grinding,,,,,,,and we are always gentle in
our approach. She did stop grinding,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,funny thing is she found a
new thing. She makes this sound out the back of her teeth and she does it
incessantly!! Some people automatically think it's grinding, but me and her
teachers recognize the sound. While it's better than grinding (no damage to
her teeth), boy is it annoying!!!!!!!!!! The other night, while the whole
family (all 5 kids plus Mom and Dad) watched a movie, I dealt with Maddie
staring in my face doing "THAT" sound the ENTIRE 2 hours the movie was on.
I can't TELL you what the movie was about..............LOL
No suggestions, but my son use to grid his teeth and I asked his dentist
about it and she did say that it does usually stop on its own. He did stop by
about age 3 to 3 1/2. She said baby teeth are smoother then adult so they
rub easier. He also did it in his sleep, but didn't know he was doing it.
I can empathise with you but have no suggestions. Draco was grinding
his front teeth ( they were knocked out of line by a fall he took)
for quite a while there. He only seems to do it know when he really
concentrating on something. I'm hoping it will taper off completely
before to long. Our dentist said not to worry about it since they were
his baby teeth. Has Angela been to a dentist yet?
I know some adults with DS who make a squeaky, grinding noise but it isn't
always grinding their teeth. I thought it was dentures the were squeaking but
not so for all of them. A couple of them do it almost non-stop. I wonder if
it is a stress reliever for them or just a bad habit they cannot control.
Now, the noise doesn't bother me at all, but drives everyone else in the
house nuts. Not to mention the damage it's going to do to her teeth after
awhile.
I try to hold her chin in my hands and say "Angela no grinding" but I don't
think she "gets" what I'm telling her to not do. I give her a nuk toothbrush
to chew on but she doesn't want to chew on that.
So, does anyone have any clever suggestions?
Rebekah has been grinding her teeth for quite a while now. Our pediactric
dentist (he has treated a number of patients with DS and other disabilities)
said she is trying to relieve the discomfort caused by her adult teeth coming
into place. He compares it with an infant teething, but now there are teeth
there thus the grinding. I too have learned to tune it out, but it does annoy
other people. When we are in a quite place, like church, I gently squeeze her
cheecks and say no. I have noticed she does it more when she is tired or
bored. The dentist assures me she is not damaging her baby teeth and as soon
as her adult molars come in she will stop. I told him I am holding him to
that promise.
