Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism, is repetitive jaw-muscle activity that most often occurs at night during sleep, but can happen during the day as well.

Do you have a teeth grinder in the house?

Teeth grinders will unconsciously clench their teeth together, grind them back and forth and/or brace or thrust their lower jaw. Grinding of the teeth can lead these children to suffer from facial tightness, headaches, neck pain, discomfort while chewing and sleep challenges.

Teeth grinding during the day may be seen as other habits such as nail biting, pencil chewing, jaw bracing and tongue or cheek biting.

If you have missed these signs, it may only come to your attention when a dentist notices teeth wear. You may want to double check for malocclusion here. But what causes teeth grinding?

Why do kids grind their teeth?

Studies on teeth grinding in children are limited and from a Western medical perspective, the reason why it occurs is complex and not very clear. It is currently considered a sleep-related movement disorder associated with a number of different factors and health conditions.

This is where we like to focus our attention on supporting a child to stop grinding their teeth. It is important to look at each child as a whole and take into account all of the things that are going on for them.

• What is their sleep like?
• How is their gut?
• What is the diet like?
• Are they an anxious child?
• Are they stressed-out or burnt out?

Sleep quality and quantity and teeth grinding

Sleep hygiene is an important consideration since those who have less time asleep are at greater risk of teeth grinding.

We need to get to the bottom of why your child is having a disturbed sleep.

• Are there disturbing lights and sounds?
• Is the room uncomfortable?
• Do they snore or have sleep apnoea?
• Does your child have allergies, or parasomnias including night terrors and nightmares?
• Restless legs?
• Seizures such as mandibular myoclonus?
• Rapid eye movement disorders?

Get started by reading our blog about how to improve sleep hygiene.

Gut health and teeth grinding

Addressing the gut is a non-negotiable part of every support plan.

If our gut isn’t working right or we aren’t feeding ourselves properly, all the nutrients and building blocks our body needs to function properly aren’t going to be there.

When it comes to gut health, an interesting consideration in teeth grinders is intestinal parasites.

The biggest contributor seems to be worms, but other parasites including Giardia have also been found.

Intestinal parasites release certain metabolites at different times of its life cycle that can have toxic effects – this causes teeth grinding.

Does your child have worms? Find out here.

Stress/anxiety and teeth grinding

Psychological factors do tend to be the most commonly stated cause of teeth grinding.

And studies have found increased teeth grinding in children with heightened emotional states, anxiety or anxious tendencies, increased levels of stress whether due to things happening around them or a full daily schedule, and personality traits such as tendencies to perfectionism and neuroticism.

Supporting their little nervous systems from different angles is a vital piece of the picture.

You might need a counsellor on board.

Dietary modifications as well as nutritional support may be needed to help support them emotionally and behaviourally.

Magnesium is a key nutrient here and is often deficient in the standard Australian diet.

A fantastic boost of magnesium would be a smoothie with banana, spinach leaves, avocado, cacao powder, and chia seeds. Or a chocolate avocado pudding with pumpkin seeds and almonds. Yum!

I also love running an Epsom Salt bath for kids, adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to the magnesium sulphate flakes.

Teeth grinding may be a protective mechanism

Interestingly, your child may be grinding their teeth unconsciously as the body is using it as a protective mechanism. It has been found that children with reflux have a higher risk of sleep bruxism.

Researchers are hypothesising that the teeth grinding is a way to stimulate an increase in saliva which then protects the throat from the harmful effects of reflux.

So, if your child has reflux then getting to the bottom of that may resolve the teeth grinding! Our bodies are fascinating, aren’t they?

As you can see, teeth grinding can very well be stemming from a number of different factors.

Ready to put a plan into action? Book with one of our practitioners today.