Grinding teeth at night

[Guest guest]

Colleen,

Would he tolerate a mouth guard when he's in a deep sleep ?? I have to give my

daughter her allergy spray when she's deep in sleep or she will not let me do

it.

A child is like a butterfly in the wind, some fly faster, some fly harder but

they all fly the best they can. Each one is different, each one is beautiful

and each one is special.

<<<<

Is there anyone else out there whose child is grinding his/her teeth

at night. My son seems to do it when and if he is awaked in the

night and then as he is trying to fall back asleep I hear him

grinding away. I am concerned and know that there is probably no way

he will allow a mouth guard in his mouth (has an oral aversion to

begin with). Any thoughts or ideas would really be appreciated. It

sounds as if he is griding his teeth away. Thanks for any help.

colleen

[Guest guest]

At 03:02 PM 4/25/2004, you wrote:

>Is there anyone else out there whose child is grinding his/her teeth

>at night. My son seems to do it when and if he is awaked in the

>night and then as he is trying to fall back asleep I hear him

>grinding away. I am concerned and know that there is probably no way

>he will allow a mouth guard in his mouth (has an oral aversion to

>begin with). Any thoughts or ideas would really be appreciated. It

>sounds as if he is griding his teeth away. Thanks for any help.

>

>colleen

My 4 yr old apraxic son also does this, also as he tries to fall back

asleep. Every night I get him up to use to potty, and he usually grinds

his teeth while I'm holding him on the toilet. He initially falls asleep

w/ a binky (not good, I know, but he is so attached to it), but when I go

in to bring him to the bathroom i take it away-- but then I guess we have

the grinding problem. Although he did go to the dentist last summer and

they didn't mention anything about it...his teeth looked oK-- except for

the 2 front ones protruding a little (fron the stupid pacifier.) No way

would he wear a mouth guard. No suggestions for you, just a 'me too'.

-Lis, Brittany and

[Guest guest]

don't worry about the " binky " thing......Jordan still has one.......AT 5. That

sucking actually helps strengthen those weak mouth muscles.....He doesn't use it

as a habit, but when he reaches for it, I see how he just doesn't want to put it

down.....he actually seems to " need " it. I'm not removing it any time soon.

I've seen apraxic kids get overly attached to bottles...FULL OF APPLE

JUICE....this is much more benign.

~k

Colleen wrote:

>Is there anyone else out there whose child is grinding his/her teeth

>at night. My son seems to do it when and if he is awaked in the

>night and then as he is trying to fall back asleep I hear him

>grinding away. I am concerned and know that there is probably no way

>he will allow a mouth guard in his mouth (has an oral aversion to

>begin with). Any thoughts or ideas would really be appreciated. It

>sounds as if he is griding his teeth away. Thanks for any help.

>

>colleen

[Guest guest]

Have you tried NightCal by Brainchild Nutritionals? I can't tell you how

many parents I've read posts from on various boards that say adding calcium

stopped the teeth grinding. I'd say a little calcium is worth a try. Those

night guards cost $400 and most dental plans don't cover them. Even worse,

continued teeth grinding over time leads to root canals. -KIM

Colleen wrote:

> Is there anyone else out there whose child is grinding his/her teeth

> at night. My son seems to do it when and if he is awaked in the

> night and then as he is trying to fall back asleep I hear him

> grinding away. I am concerned and know that there is probably no way

> he will allow a mouth guard in his mouth (has an oral aversion to

> begin with). Any thoughts or ideas would really be appreciated. It

> sounds as if he is griding his teeth away. Thanks for any help.

>

> colleen

[Guest guest]

Wish I had some suggestions for you- I could use some myself! My 27 month

old daughter has recently started grinding her teeth as well- I'm not sure why.

She seems to do it a lot just after she wakes up, during that " barely awake "

period. I haven't been able to get her to stop. It's awful to listen to-

like nails on a chalkboard! Hope it helps to know that you're not the only one

going through this! Good luck!

-Beth

[Guest guest]

Colleen -I also read this post of yours

From: " colleen " <seanmymiracle@...>

Date: Thu Apr 22, 2004 11:20 am

Subject: Getting the Chewing down

Does anyone have any insight or ideas on how to get my 4 yr. old to

learn to chew. He has oral dyphasia as well as oral apraxia and

severe verbal apraxia. We are working with our speech path using a

bit of a cracker and pressing it down on his molars to let him get

that sensation of the crunching and and sound of the crunching. Using

the Nuk brush as well. The acceptance of texutred food is starting to

come along, but no actual chewing yet. Keep in mind he was a micro-

preemie (just over 1 1/2 pounds at birth) developed a severe oral

aversion (due to intubation 5 separate times, deep suctioning, and

had to be on oxygen for almost 2 years). The majority of the aversion

has subsided thank goodness, but he is still very sensative when it

comes to his mouth and when anything dry goes in it. He's smart as a

whip now and loves running around playing, but the feeding issues are

still present. Any ideas would be soooooooooooo appreciated! Thanks

so much....this site is amazing!

colleen

It's apparent your child has some oral motor issues and the tooth

grinding, which is not unusual in children as you will read below -

may instead/in addition be an exploratory stage due to improvements from

therapies (both traditional as well as complimentary ones like

EFAs) As always -what we view as a " bad " thing may in fact be a

sign of good things to come!

And speaking of EFAs -your son has been on ProEFA for 2 months now

with " no major breakthroughs " yet...what have you seen (other than

tooth grinding)

" Believe it or not -this one is in the archives. This was considered

> yet another 'bad sign' that is really a good sign. Some children

> never fully

> go through the teething stage which is a healthy part of oral

> exploration

> important for

> developing speech.

http://www.feeding.com/images/Oral%20Exploration.PDF

May want to keep us posted in the weeks ahead!

Here is an archive on this that may help:

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Sat Dec 20, 2003 9:48 pm

Subject: Re: New here and feeling guilty

Hi Kim!

The aspect of tooth grinding in your message caught my eye -and I

have two archives on that below. Sometimes what we view as a bad

thing could really be a good thing as we talked about with late

teething.

(archive)

" I don't know exactly why your child is moving her mouth in unusual

positions, or groping -however to me any changes outside the norm

when you start your child on the EFAs is a great sign that something

is clicking and that the surge may be soon approaching. (Please let

us know when you see the surge in speech in the next week or two!)

Since I receive lots of calls about this -I wanted to list the most

common changes in an apraxic or other speech disordered child on

EFAs from what I've read and heard and seen.

1. Increase in babbling or attempts at sounds.

2. Increase in imitation.

Changes also can be looked for in (what you see as positive or

negative)

sleep

attention

appetite

focus

behavior

stools

Next will come a breakthrough of something you were probably working

on for a bit -so you will be excited but will think " Well -I don't

want to get my hopes up we were working on that for awhile now -

maybe it's just a coincidence " However after the second or third

surge in a short period of time -and then another - you are pretty

sure things are different and it's at this point the professionals

and the rest of the family and your friends are noticing it too -

maybe about two to three weeks now.

OK -the next stage is pure elation and hope -you see the light and

no longer feel as desperate and want to share this new information

with everyone and anyone. As the months go by and your child

continues to progress at a much more rapid rate -you may even start

to doubt the original diagnosis -especially if you started EFA

supplementation at two -and perhaps the SLP that diagnosed the

apraxia who also was at first excited is starting to second guess if

the original diagnosis was correct as well. Unless you have to stop

the ProEFA (or other Essential Fatty Acid) and literally have the

chance to see the regression of acquired speech and language skills,

attempts, and changes in behavior like we did with Tanner (and/or

have a chance to again witness the second surge when your child is

put back on the EFAs) -that doubt will probably remain somewhere in

your mind and in others around your child. So the " I told you that

he would start talking when he was ready " comments should be

expected of course.

....The child on ProEFA or some other EFA formula's like it no longer

fits the criteria of the classic definition of apraxia -and yet

doesn't fit the classic perception of what a late talker is either...

....Here is what many of us have found to be the best plan

anecdotally...start with the basic formula, one ProEFA a day, we

saw surges in a few days to three weeks which continued for months -

we then reached a plateau after around 6 months. At this point we

raised the dosage to two capsules of ProEFA a day and once again had

those surges which lasted again for months. When we reached the

next plateau after around a year, instead of going to three a day -

we squeezed 1/2 to one capsule of ProEPA into the 2 capsules of

ProEFA and for almost all of us that try -that created another surge.

Over time -you may raise the dosage up higher -and you may slightly

change the formula to raise the Omega 3 over the Omega 6 ratio -but

you need to know your own child, keep track of his progress through

both your own observations and that of the professionals -with the

advice of your child's doctor -to know what is best for him/her. "

Let us know if you start having surges in the next few days! I

wouldn't be surprised. There are a few messages in the archives about

tooth grinding -here are just two:

From: " cailg547 " <aigjr@...>

Date: Fri Sep 13, 2002 11:37 am

Subject: brain & efa's!

My daughter had her second brain MRI yesterday. The first was when

she was 2 and 1/2 now she is 4 and 1/2. The first one showed that her

myelin needed to grow some more. We started supplementing with efa's

right after that first MRI. First efalex until she was 3 and then

proefa. We saw results with speech on the proefa and with the efelex

she stopped teeth grinding.

The MRI yesterday showed that her myelin is not only completely

developed but extremely so.

The myelin is the outer coating of brain cells and without it the

brain can't make connections within itself so that you can function.

People who have MS lose myelin.

This development was very important for my daughter because it was

also discovered what I had suspected, that she has some tiny spots is

considered brain damage probably caused by lack of oxygen while she

was in the birth canal too long (over 4 hours).

It was explained to me that without the myelin the brain would not be

able to find alternative routes to learn to do what that spot would

have been responsible for.

The pediatric radiologist said that they believe that most people

stop producing myelin at age 3-3 1/2 but with efa's myelin can keep

being produced!

Carolyn aigjr@...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "

[Guest guest]

I have been a tooth grinder for the majority of my life and have noted it in two

of my three children. One with apraxia the other not. It does occur more

frequently at night for all of us. It is awful to listen to and if a person has

a particularly bad night you don't feel so great the next day. I do the

grinding more if I am anxious or worried. I have a mouth guard but found it not

to be overly useful because I spit it out at night.

By the way, I do not have any delays of any kind and mostly have attributed

this to genetics and anxiety.

Daphne

Re: [ ] Grinding teeth at night

Wish I had some suggestions for you- I could use some myself! My 27 month

old daughter has recently started grinding her teeth as well- I'm not sure

why.

She seems to do it a lot just after she wakes up, during that " barely awake "

period. I haven't been able to get her to stop. It's awful to listen to-

like nails on a chalkboard! Hope it helps to know that you're not the only

one

going through this! Good luck!

-Beth

[Guest guest]

Try giving calcium-magnesium supplements. That worked for my kids.

You can try Nightcal or similar ptoduct.

Ravi Shankar

> I have been a tooth grinder for the majority of my life and have

noted it in two of my three children. One with apraxia the other

not. It does occur more frequently at night for all of us. It is

awful to listen to and if a person has a particularly bad night you

don't feel so great the next day. I do the grinding more if I am

anxious or worried. I have a mouth guard but found it not to be

overly useful because I spit it out at night.

>

> By the way, I do not have any delays of any kind and mostly have

attributed this to genetics and anxiety.

>

> Daphne

> Re: [ ] Grinding teeth at night

>

>

> Wish I had some suggestions for you- I could use some myself!

My 27 month

> old daughter has recently started grinding her teeth as well-

I'm not sure why.

> She seems to do it a lot just after she wakes up, during

that " barely awake "

> period. I haven't been able to get her to stop. It's awful to

listen to-

> like nails on a chalkboard! Hope it helps to know that you're

not the only one

> going through this! Good luck!

> -Beth

[Guest guest]

I heard adding zinc to the mix can help, too. They do make a good

cal/mag/zinc supplement but I like using the zinc picolinate

separately (give 5-10 mgs at night before bed... can give with a few

crackers).

Pam

> Try giving calcium-magnesium supplements. That worked for my kids.

> You can try Nightcal or similar ptoduct.

>

> Ravi Shankar

[Guest guest]

Hi Colleen and Beth,

Here is an article from KidsHealth.org on Bruxism (teeth grinding) that

gives some insight. Hope this helps.

Mustafa

Bringing Bruxism to a Grinding Halt

" When you look in on your sleeping child, you want to hear the sweet

sounds of sweet dreams: easy breathing and perhaps an occasional

sigh. But some parents hear the harsher sounds of gnashing and

grinding teeth, called bruxism. Bruxism is common among young

children. Read on to find out what causes bruxism and how you can

help your child.

What is Bruxism?

Bruxism is the medical term for the grinding of teeth or the

clenching of jaws, especially during deep sleep or while under

stress. It comes from the Greek word " brychein, " which means to

gnash the teeth. Three out of every 10 kids will grind or clench,

experts say, with the highest incidence in children under 5. "

Read article here:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/teeth/bruxism_prt.htm

> Wish I had some suggestions for you- I could use some myself! My

27 month

> old daughter has recently started grinding her teeth as well- I'm

not sure why.