Dentist in Ogden, Utah: My child grinds their teeth, SO LOUD! Can I do anything about it?
- Does your child grind their teeth at night?
- Do you go in to check on them and hear that horrible grinding sound?
- Does your child’s teeth look like little nubs that have been ground down from what used to be good looking little teeth?
- Can anything be done about it?
- Will it end up hurting their teeth?
Here are some answers to your questions.
NO, there is nothing you can do about the grinding. In adults, we can do things like make mouth guards to wear at night so you grind on that rather then the teeth. But, we really don’t want the chocking hazard with kids so that option is out. Grinding is a subconscious habit so its not like sucking your thumb where we can monitor the child and remind them to stop. Grinding is just something you are going to have to live with.
There are only very rare cases where childhood grinding has ever caused any real damage to a child’s teeth. A child’s teeth only are around for a few years anyway. So, the teeth that are being ground on usually are not around long enough to have any real damage done to them.
- Do they look a little shorter? Yes.
- Is it a big problem? No.
And the best thing about this entire issue is that almost all of the kids that grind their teeth when they are young will stop doing so as they enter the teenage years. No one knows why for sure, but by the time they are teens, most kids have kicked the habit.
