• Incorrect Bites / Teeth Grinding/Bruxism
• Treatments

Incorrect Bites / Teeth Grinding/Bruxism

Teeth grinding (or teeth grinding) is an oral and jaw problem where the person affected grinds his or her teeth. Bruxism occurs in most people, but is often mild, or intermittent, and does not affect someone's health. But when tooth grinding becomes more frequent, it may set off significant complications, leading to severe damage towards the jaws and teeth.

Not only adults might suffer from bruxism, but 15 to 33 percent of children grind their teeth, and this happens mostly during tooth eruption periods. This type of bruxism happens when the child is sleeping and many parents notice it because they hear grinding noises coming from the child's mouth.

Bruxism in children

There was no major treatment for young children who suffer from bruxism. Most of them lose the habit when they reach adolescence.. Here are a few tips for helping a child to reduce teeth grinding:

• Reduce a child’s stress level, especially before sleep.
• Try massaging and relaxing the muscles of the face.
• Make sure that the child’s diet contains a lot of water because dehydration can be connected with teeth grinding.
• Ask your dentist to check if your child has signs or bruxism, such as tooth wear.

Causes of teeth grinding

Here are the most suspected causes of bruxism:

• Anxiety or stress.
• An abnormal closure of the teeth caused by misaligned teeth or many absent teeth.
• Anxiety, stress or tension
• Suppressed anger or frustration
• Aggressive, competitive or hyperactive personality type
• Abnormal alignment of upper and lower teeth (malocclusion)
• Other sleep problems
• Response to pain from an earache or teething (in children)
• Complication resulting from a disorder, such as Huntington's disease or Parkinson's disease
• An uncommon side effect of some psychiatric medications, including certain antidepressants

Why is bruxism harmful?

Chronic teeth grinding can fracture, use up, or cause tooth loss. In these cases treatments such as crowns, bridges, root canals or implants may be necessary.

Severe bruxism can not only damage teeth, but could also worsen the condition of the jaws. If not treated, this problem can lead to a partial loss of hearing affect the temporo mandbular joint, or even change the appearance of the face.

Treatments

In most cases, when bruxism is mild, no treatment is necessary. It’s when teeth grinding becomes severe and causes damage or pain that it should be treated. Here’s what you can do:

• Reduce stress.
• Reduce eating or drinking foods that contain caffeine such as coffee, chocolate or soft drinks.
• Avoid chewing on objects that are not foods, such as pencils.
• Stop yourself from grinding your teeth, if you are aware it, and if it happens during the day.
• Relax your jaw muscles in the evening, before sleeping, by using a damp and warm cloth applied against your face in front of your ear.
• If none of these methods works, your dentist can make you a bite splint that can be worn night time while you sleep; that’s when most episodes of teeth grinding occur.