When a child grinds his teeth in a dream, the causes and options for solving the problem become a headache for the parents. Some moms and dads blame helminths in everything - infection with worms is considered the main provocateur of this phenomenon. Without a doctor's visit and additional research, they begin to give the child drugs that do not bring an effect. In reality, the reasons are much greater.
Why does a child grind his teeth in a dream?
Clattering and gnashing of teeth, called bruxism, appears in the phase of fast sleep. Chewing musculature shrinks, the tone of the facial muscles rises, the lower and upper jaws collide, rub against each other, teeth creak, knock, spontaneous swallowing of saliva occurs. Episodes can be repeated more than once a night and at different ages. Not always bruxism in children is detected by parents, for example, when a grown up child lies in another room.
Deviation can occur for various reasons: psychological, dental, neurological. The most frequent of them are:
- Nerve overstrain;
- sleep disorder;
- malocclusion;
- teething;
- early weaning from the maternal breast;
- heredity;
- lack of vitamins.
Bruxism in Worms
Many years of national experience connects tooth rasp with the presence of parasites in the body. Worms and other helminths are an irritating factor. They cause itching, forcing their carrier to toss in their sleep, to sleep badly. The salivation increases, and this leads to the movement of the jaws. In addition, the state of health deteriorates: the level of vitamin B12 decreases, which leads to a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the brain, a violation of neuromuscular transmission. As a result, the child grinds his teeth in a dream, involuntary contraction of muscles occurs both in the daytime and at night.
Bruxism in epilepsy
In Soviet times, if a child grinds at night with teeth, the reason was seen in a serious illness - epilepsy. In the period of an attack, the jaw muscles actually contract, there are convulsions. But there is no direct connection between bruxism and epilepsy. To understand why a child grinds with his teeth, it is necessary to consult a doctor: pediatrician or neurologist. The latter will confirm or refute the diagnosis of epilepsy and developing against her background bouts of bruxism. More often these two phenomena adjoin at adults.
Bruxism with Neurosis
Mental and neurological problems are frequent provocateurs of why a child grinds at night with teeth. After a day's turmoil, the brain analyzes them, the dream can become restless, accompanied by sleepwalking. Attacks are observed at any time of the day. Restraining aggression at a subconscious level, children clench their teeth, and at night can no longer control themselves. If the child grinds his teeth in a dream, the following neurological reasons are called:
- stress;
- Nerve overstrain;
- fear ;
- depression;
- quarrels in the family;
- lack of attention;
- training overload;
- fatigue.
Bruxism in adenoids
When the development of bruxism in children, the causes can be associated with diseases of the ENT organs: rhinitis , curvature of the nasal septum, adenoids . With an increase in the throat of the tonsils, it becomes difficult to breathe, the bite changes, the child opens and closes his mouth in a dream, provoking a gnashing of teeth. This problem is solved by medication. If necessary, inflamed tonsils are removed, sleep normalizes, seizures disappear.
What is dangerous about bruxism?
The clinical picture of the disease is typical: seizures are repeated regularly, lasting from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Sometimes other symptoms are added to the main symptom caused by constant jaw contractions: pain, facial muscle spasms, caries, tooth enamel damage, gum disease. The consequences of a minor deviation may be the most serious. When a child squeaks violently with his teeth in a dream, he can provoke their loosening and falling out. And suffer as patients, sealed, and healthy teeth. The remote consequences are as follows:
- pain in the shoulders and neck;
- restriction of movement of jaws;
- hypertrophy of the masticatory muscles;
- gingivitis .
The child creaks in his sleep with his teeth - what can I do?
When the diagnosis of bruxism is confirmed, treatment is performed depending on the provocateurs of the disease or conservative methods are used. By school age, the problem, as a rule, is eliminated by itself, if the seizures last not for long and do not have serious consequences. Sufficient will normalize the regime of the child's day, provide him with rest before bedtime, eliminate stress. In more complex cases, a course of therapy will be required. Before treating bruxism, you need to find out the reason. Consultations of such specialists as pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, dentist are required.
Drug treatment is prescribed for neurological problems, prescribe a sedative, Magnesium B6, herbal remedies. Perhaps the passage of a course of psychotherapy. To facilitate the process of teething can be with the help of special nipples and gels with anesthetic effect. If helminths are to blame, taking drugs to get rid of parasites, and the whole family, is required. If there are not enough vitamins, they need to be filled with special complexes.
Capa with bruxism
When a child grinds with his teeth, it's bad for their growth and strength. It is required to limit the undesirable contact of the upper and lower jaws. To protect the teeth, which suffer most during night attacks, a plastic nozzle is used. Her wearing is shown by the dentist. The kappa is made from bruxism in size taking into account the peculiarities of the bite. It is shown to be worn for a period of not less than 21 hours, i.ะต. almost for a day.
Trainer with bruxism
Another type of detachable design for correcting the bite is the trainer. They are made of silicone. If a child grinds at night with his teeth, some types of trainers are used, if in the afternoon - others. The first - more stringent, used for a long time compared with the day (2-3 hours). Pads are worn to correct bad habits, including grinding of teeth. Their wearing is prescribed for school-age children, adolescents.
When a child grinds his teeth in a dream, the reasons can be either external or internal. The first thing that is required of parents is to exclude possible culprits of dental and parasitic nature, diseases of the nasopharynx. If the problem is not very troubling to the baby, the bouts of bruxism are not long and do not affect the teeth, they may stop after a while. But the control over the state of the child's health is required to be carried out constantly. Sometimes children "outgrow" bruxism, but the seizures are repeated later with a strong emotional shock.