Advice on Teeth Grinding

My 4.5 year old grinds her teeth. I asked the dentist about it and he said that it is normal and not to worry. She especially does it when she is sick (or at least that is when she is in my bed and I hear it). It sounds awful. The dentist said that there is nothing to do about it at this age and often they grow out of it.

Even if it's not giving her headachs, grinding is damaging her teeth.
I grind my teeth so badly at night that I wake myself up doing it. I got one of those boil-and-bite mouth guards and I use it at night. It doesn't stop the grinding, but it prevents it from damaging my teeth.

Yes! My oldest son used to grind his teeth terribly around that same age. Our dr said it was just due to stress and that he'd outgrow it, which he did. Good thing is, at 5 years old, she's not damaging her adult teeth. So as long as it's not causing her any health problems, don't worry about it.

y so has done this all his life and he is 25 now so I have a lot of experience with this problem.Over this years we had done all kinds of month pieces from one make just from him to wearing a football month piece to work, but nothing has worked. The dentist first say he would out grow it but that do not happen and another idea was it was nerves but I do not know. He does still have a good set of teeth and they are in good shapes. He has only had to have one pull when he was 18 and it was a baby tooth believe it or not. A new one did grow in. He has never said anything about a headache so I guesses we who are in the same room sometimes when he falls asleep have it worse because of the horrible noise. My bottom advice is just kept working with your dentist but she can have a health month and no other problems from this.

Well, I don't know anything "scientific" about it, but I do know I ground my teeth in my sleep when I was a child, and who knows, I may still do it occasionally, although my husband never says I do. I have never had a cavity, my teeth are in fine shape, and my dentist says he doubts I ever will have a cavity. I had braces from ages 12-15 and that was not affected by the grinding either (nor was it a cause of needing braces - that was genetic in my case). So at least I am a testimony of a nighttime tooth grinder who is none the worse for it.

Hi T.,
As a dental hygienist, I can tell you that a LOT of young children grind their teeth. There's not a whole lot to be done about it, since they are young and their bones and teeth are constantly growing. But I will tell you that many children grow out of it, especially when they start losing their baby teeth. My guess is that when their adult teeth begin to come in, they don't touch yet, so there's nothing to grind right there. They may still grind their back teeth though, so who knows.
Hopefully your daughter will outgrow it!

Hi, I am a BIG fan of Pediatric Dentists. I travel 125 miles to OKC to take the kids. A Pediatric Dentist is a Specialist. They usually put the kids to sleep to work on their teeth and they goof off with the kids when they are in the appts. It makes the kids feel at ease and is not a waste of time. James is 2 and will sit and laugh and open his mouth for the cleaning and X-rays and everything. Kaleigh is always asking "when am I going to see Dr. Lee?" They love going. K had a broken front tooth from a fall and we took her to Ocean Dental, they specialize in Children's Dentistry, and they took one look at it and refused to work on it. They gave me a list of specialist and Dr. Lee was on it. He practices at Children's Hospital, Mid West City Hospital, and Baptist Hospitals.

A regular dentist really doesn't know how to work on baby teeth and it usually doesn't stay. A friend of mine didn't think it was a big deal, "a filling is a filling no matter who puts it in" has had 2 fillings put in the same tooth and her daughter is only 5. It fell out again last week and the mom is just going to have it pulled. She is tired of dealing with it and paying for it over and over.

If you have insurance call them and ask them which Pediatric Dentist you can take her to. Even at 5 she still has needs that a Pediatric Dentist will recognize and take care of.

We picked Dr. Lee because he uses white filling material. It was the best choice I have ever made when it comes to the kids care.

On another note: I have really bad teeth because I have a huge problem with Dentists. My childhood Dentist didn't believe me when I told him that my tooth wasn't numb and he just held me down and drilled anyway. I had this type of experience every time I went. She will remember these visits for her entire life and it may cause her to not go as an adult.