What causes babies to grind their teeth and how to deal with it?

Teeth grinding in babies is a relatively common physiological phenomenon. There are many factors that can cause children to grind their teeth at night, but they are not complicated. So what are the reasons that cause babies to grind their teeth?

Reason 1

It is possible that the child has parasites in his body. Some children have pinworm disease. After they go to sleep, pinworms often crawl to the anus to lay eggs. This will make the children feel anal itching and have difficulty falling asleep, and the phenomenon of night grinding of teeth will occur. But what is more common is that children have roundworms in their stomachs. They plunder various nutrients in the small intestine, secrete toxins, run around up and down, are extremely restless, stimulate the intestinal tract to speed up peristalsis, cause indigestion, dull pain around the navel, and make the child's nervous excitability unstable during sleep, causing teeth grinding. It is important to prescribe the right medicine for the disease. If your child has roundworms or pinworms in his stomach, he should be dewormed in time.

Reason 2

Rickets caused by calcium deficiency is also one of the important reasons for children's nocturnal bruxism. Countermeasures: Children with rickets should be treated with vitamin D and calcium supplements in a timely manner, and at the same time, they should be allowed to get appropriate amounts of sunbathing to increase calcium absorption.

Reason 3

Psychological reasons. When children encounter some psychological problems, such as parents' divorce, family discord, being scolded by parents or teachers for poor academic performance, or watching thrilling scenes on TV before going to bed, they may experience negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, irritability, and excessive tension, and even suffer mental trauma, thus leading to the occurrence of nocturnal bruxism. Countermeasure: Mental illness needs to be treated with mental medicine. In the face of this situation, parents should create a comfortable, harmonious, happy and relaxed family environment for their children, eliminate all kinds of negative psychological factors that cause pressure on their children, and take their children for psychological treatment when necessary. You can also have your child take sedatives before bed to reduce or eliminate the excitability of the nervous system and reduce or prevent the occurrence of nocturnal bruxism.

Reason 4

Dental reasons. If a child's teeth are not well developed, some of the tooth tips are too high and the occlusal surface is uneven when the upper and lower teeth touch each other. The high points or obstacle points created by this may also cause the child to grind his teeth at night. Countermeasures: If this is the reason, parents should take their children to see a doctor as soon as possible and ask the dentist to perform adjustment treatment to reduce or eliminate bruxism by grinding down the high points or obstruction points of the teeth. You can also let your child wear a dental guard before going to bed under the guidance of a doctor, which can also prevent your child from grinding his teeth at night.

Reason 5

Problems with a child's diet, such as picky eating, partial eating habits, or digestive dysfunction, may also cause bruxism at night. The former will cause children to lack calcium and vitamins; while the latter will cause the gastrointestinal tract to work overtime to digest food because they eat too much at dinner. Both of these will cause the child's facial chewing muscles to work automatically, causing the child to grind their teeth at night.

Countermeasures Parents can change their children's bad eating habits by reasonably allocating meals, paying attention to the combination of coarse and fine grains, meat and vegetables to prevent malnutrition in their children. They should also help their children change unscientific eating habits, such as partial eating, picky eating, and overeating at dinner. In general, by understanding the above knowledge, parents can help their children overcome the problem of nocturnal teeth grinding.