5-year-old grinding his teeth at night

[smeep]

DS has recently started cosleeping with me again most nights and he is grinding his teeth pretty much every night that he sleeps with me (so I can only assume he does it when he's not sleeping with me). I have noticed this going on since he started cosleeping with me again about 2 or so months ago, though I have no idea how long it's been going on prior to that. But it wakes me up several times a night. Some nights are worse than others, though I don't know if it's that he's grinding his teeth more or that I'm just waking up more/sleeping lighter on those nights.

Any suggestions as to what may be causing it or what I can do? I know that in the past when I have had periods of teeth grinding at night that it's been stress related but he seems pretty stress-free for the most part. I try massaging his jaw to relax it when I hear him do it and it seems like he just grinds more when I do that (mind you, I'm half asleep so it's hard for me to remember well in the morning), though when I rub his back or something instead it doesn't have the same increased-grinding effect. I have also read that it could be pinworms and I found a thread here on MDC that mentioned some other symptoms, bedwetting being one of them which is something he has recently started doing again, so I will be checking for those little buggers, eegh.

I do need to attack this pretty soon, though. He's got teeth issues (I think just crap genetics, boo!) and a couple weeks ago one of his caps fell off and then a few days later what little of the tooth was left came off and I think that the teeth grinding definitely played a part in it. And his insurance is crap so it will cost an arm and a leg to do anything so I want to see if I can at least knock out the teeth grinding issue without having to see a dentist for that as well (though obviously I have to go for the caps, ugh).

Thanks! :)

[NCDad]

Hi smeep,

I am treading gently here; I'm drawn to many of the posts here because I'm a dentist.  I'm new, too, and I don't know how this will go. Who knows; I may find that I love these discussions except for the dental issues!  Anyway, I'm not here to be an authority; in fact, I'll try to keep my parent cap on and leave the white coat at the office...I thought I'd reply to your post though, to say that it would be uncommon that the grinding be provoked by something else, or a symptom of a bigger 'problem'.  For us adults, yes, as you mentioned, with stress being a common part of a grinding episode.  We as dentists are often deeply challenged with some of our adult grinders/clenchers, and so I'm happy to say that with kids it's not the same.  We don't know exactly why they do it, but most do, to the point that the front teeth are worn nearly to the gums by the time they loosen and come out. And the back are flattened, planed smooth and flat.  But it's not commonly something to treat, and I thought you might be relieved to know that.  I'm not saying it's a certainty, though, because of the cap issue you mention. Although it sounds like that one is not causing pain, could there be another that is, and he's "working on it" in his sleep? I'm not too sure, if he's not complaining when he's awake, chewing,etc..I'm wondering how old he is. Might I suggest researching the primary tooth exfoliation charts so you know when to expect the twenty baby teeth to come out.  Note,though: teeth that have had complex treatment ("baby root canal [pulpotomy]" and caps) may come out sooner or later than their partners. One more thing: the more you know as a 'consumer'/mother of the young dental patient, the better. While some dentists get threatened by this, most of us are learning to roll with it, and to actually see it as a positive, since both in the office and at home the attention necessary for dental health is available and effective.

Hope this helps a bit, Matthew

[tanyalynn]

I don't know when I started grinding my teeth, my freshman year roommate is the one who mentioned it.  I eventually figured out that I grind a lot less--maybe none at all? (I don't have any tension/pain anymore) -- when I supplement magnesium.  I've noticed a few other muscular tension types of issues that also resolve with supplemental mag--leg cramps, an irregular heartbeat, an odd assortment.  Since some people have relief from things like that with calcium supplementation, maybe consider that too, but I'd try first one and then the other--it seems usually an imbalance is the issue, so adding both may not help. 

But before I figured that out, I had a mouth guard for many years and that significantly lessened the pain/tension.  Mine was made by my dentist, seemed fairly pricey so if you go that route, I'd get quotes a few places.  I don't have any experience with off the shelf mouthguards, either in terms of efficacy or what type of plastic they're made of.