Childs Teeth Grinding | Bruxism

The first sign of your child’s gritting of teeth can be sounds you may hear in the night. If you hear a mysterious sound, resembling some creak, coming from a child’s room, come to him and learn.

Bruxism (grinding of teeth) occurs as a consequence of rhythmic clonus of masticatory muscles, accompanied by low sound, resembling grinding or clicking. During bruxism, a change of pulse, arterial pressure, breath etc. takes place. This occurrence while sleep is met rather often. Mechanisms of bruxism origin are still not obvious.
No personal changes, typical for those who suffer from bruxism were found. It is thought that bruxism can be one of displays of defects of sleep regulation, like somnambulism, night enuresis and nightmares. It was discovered that these phenomena are displayed more often under epilepsy.

Bruxism is found in 5-15% cases in populace, and in nearly 50% of children. There are statistics about inherited predisposition to bruxism. Bruxism causes no problems for most of children, and many of them get out of this practice with time. During sleep, you may note various episodes of bruxism, lasting up to 10 seconds. If bruxism's episodes persist longer and are excessively intensive, then this may lead to injury of teeth and nearby soft parts.

During severe fits of bruxism a child may awaken up in the morning with headache, toothache and even distressing feelings in his face. This may turn out to be very serious. If grinding of teeth lasts for more than months and years, teeth can suffer significant wear. Additionally, this may damage the joint that helps lower jaw to join a side of head.
If your child is grinding his teeth all the time, you should consult a dentist, which can make a special tire for your child, which won't allow teeth to adjoin. If your child is grinding his teeth only occasionally, then you can try to use methods, recommended by experts, or you may also use them together with a tire in his mouth.

Give rest to jaws. If your child doesn't chew, swallow or talk, his upper and lower teeth shouldn't adjoin. If teeth adjoin, there's only one step to grinding left. Explain to a child and ask him to try keeping his teeth slightly pulled out, when his jaws are relaxed.

Encourage exercising. Regular exercises can help your child to relieve stress and muscle tension, which lead to a night grinding of teeth.
Calm occupations before going to bed. A child shouldn't take part in some struggle, drawing and other impetuous games before going to bed. Strained muscles need time to relax, before a child falls asleep. Create a calm atmosphere for your child 1 hour before he goes to bed. You can read a book or give him a possibility to read or look through pictures by himself during this period.

Try to put your child to bed earlier. Probably, your child is just too tired, and this may lead to grinding of teeth in the night. In this case, earlier going to bed may help him. If your child usually went to bed at 9 pm, try to put him to bed at 8 pm.
Avoid eating before going to bed. If digestive juices are working in the night, this may lead to excess tension of a baby during sleep. Don't give anything to your child, except water, an hour before he goes to bed.

Speak with a child about his problems. If your child is worried with some difficult home task or a coming school performance, this may serve as a reason that makes him grinding his teeth in the night. If something worries a child, don't let him go to bed with this anxiety in his head.

Talk to him before he goes to bed, so that all troubles would leave him, this often helps to relieve tension. Make a 5 or 10 minutes conversation a daily sedative procedure before your child falls asleep.
Apply warm, wet compresses. If your child's jaw aches in the morning, moisten a terry-cloth tissue in warm water, squeeze it and apply to an aching jaw till your child feels better. This will help to calm down pain.

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