How To Deal With Bruxism In Kids
Written by admin on Friday, July 16th, 2010 in Bruxism.
Bruxism is a difficult condition to deal with when it happens among adults, let alone children. There are more and more children all the time who are developing the bruxism condition. They often end up dealing with more dental damage and soreness of the jaw than adults. It is therefore important for any parent who even just thinks their child may have bruxism to talk to their doctor about it.
The first thing a parent should do even if they just think their child may have bruxism is talk to the doctor about it. There are certain symptoms you will be able to watch for and let your doctor know if you think there is a problem. Some parents actually see their child clenching their jaw and grinding their teeth while they sleep. Some parents notice their child complaining of a sore jaw in the morning or moving their jaw around as though they got hit in the face.
There is no known cause and so there is no way for parents to understand what it was that actually started their child’s bruxism in the first place. They have made the connection between bruxism and high levels of stress and anxiety however. Children with high levels of stress and anxiety are much more likely to develop the bruxism condition than others. There are lots of reasons why a child would be stressed out for instance if they had just started at a new school or their parents were getting divorced.
As parents it is up to you to try and find the main points of stress in your child’s life so that you can reduce or get rid of them as best as you can. Therefore the first suggestion doctors offer parents if their child is found to have bruxism, is to determine the main points of stress in the child’s life and work on them. The first thing they may suggest is for the child to talk to a counselor or therapist. They are the professional here and are trained to work with children.
Mouth guards are also often used as treatment for bruxism in children. Whereas for adults with the same condition, medication and other treatment may be suggested for kids it is different. They just need to put it on before going to bed at night. They can wear this when they go to bed at night and it will help protect their teeth from being damaged.
