Y'all, my daughter will sometimes come and get into our bed with us in the middle of the night, and I've noticed a couple of times lately that she is grinding her teeth. It is really freaky!!! This morning, when she did it, I would take my thumb and gently rub her cheek and she would stop. I did a little online research and they think that it has something to do with stress. She has been afraid of going to bed and has had bad dreams because of the T-Rex's on The Land Before Time (they watched it 1 time at school a couple of weeks ago but she is always talking about it). We've been doing some things to help her with that fear, but I'm thinking that the tooth grinding probably has a whole lot to do with that.
We already have a dental appointment set up for next Monday (2/5/07 - her first!), so I'm going to ask him about this when I take her in. But in the meantime, has anyone experienced this?
Sometimes bruxism in children might be an indication of Pin Worms. Your pedi might be able to tell you how to check for them.
C.
This doesn't have to do with grinding teeth as I don't think my daughter does that, but I have 3 yr old daughter as well, and she all of a sudden started being afraid of sleeping by herself too. She would talk about dinosaurs in her room. It started just after she watched The Land Before Time on the Disney Channel too!
my daughter doesn't do this but i do, my husband says it is so loud it wakes him up, i dream that my jaw is wired shut and i'm trying so hard to get it free that my teeth are breaking, its actually very scary, and i wake up and my gums and jaw are shooting with pain, i called my dentist and she is going to give me a bite plate to wear when i am sleeping, because this kind of activity is very damaging to the teeth.
My oldest son did this for the longest time. He would do it so hard that I could hear it in the middle of the night from across the house. We finally used a mouth piece (like football players use) that we cut down to fit in his mouth. He used it for a couple of weeks every night and hasn't needed it for the last 6 years. Once in a while when he gets overly tired he'll still grind his teeth in his sleep, but not as bad as he used to. That's the only thing we ever tried but your dentist might have a better suggestion.
K.
Hello! My 8 year old started doing that around 3 and it didn't go away. She grinded down her teeth but the dentist wasn't worried about it because it was her baby teeth. He told me if it continues with her adult teeth we will have to give her a night guard. She takes after me. I grind my teeth too. :-) Sorry I am no help just letting you know I have been there and still dealing with it.
I do understand the horrible sound of teeth grinding. My son is 7 and he still does that sometimes. But he has always done that since he has had teeth and it has always been at night when he is sleeping. I wished I would have thought to rub his cheek when he would sleep in my room. When he first went to the dentist, and then again 6 months ago, I talked to his dentist about it. It is so bad that his baby teeth are worn like in half(he grinds his front teeth). But the (pediatric)dentist told me that it is not uncommon for children to grind their teeth. He also said it was more common when they had their baby teeth and would grow out of it around the time they start loosing teeth, and usually stop completely once their adult teeth come in.
I hope this information is helpful and I wish you good luck. I would definitely talk to the doctor or pedidontist(not sure of spelling) And see what they say. Sometimes things can be treated and you don't know until you ask. If it is stress related they may suggest relaxation exercises for your daughter to do before she goes to bed.
My son ground his teeth when he was about that age. My dentist and orthodontist told me that some of it had to do with the fact that they are cutting new molars etc also.
Bad dreams are common around that age, so I wouldn't say the two are necessarily related. Be sure you ask your daughter if she is upset about something though, you should always ask. You never know now days!
