Since Caden's T&Aectomy he is no longer breathing through his mouth. Now that his mouth is closed I've noticed that he is grinding his teeth like mad at night. It's awful....very loud.....sounds like he's going to chip all his teeth off! He does it periodically throughout the whole night. I asked him if his jaw hurts in the morning and he said yes.

Have any of you noticed your kids doing this? Is it connected to the Sleep apnea? What causes teethgrinding?


Thanks for any help.


Kim

I can't answer your questions other than to tell you this is called "Bruxism" and my father always did this in his sleep.  His molars were all replaced by the time he reached early adulthood as a result.  I too do it from time to time, but I'm not aware of it unless 1) hubby happened to be up and later tells me I was doing it, or 2) my jaw is sore in the morning so I think that's probably what happened.  My dentist found fissures in my teeth and first thing he asked me was whether I knew if I did any "teeth grinding".

Frequent bruxism usually requires some type of mouthpiece, more to protect the teeth from fissures and breakage than for anything else.  Please consider calling the dentist and ask about options?

Blessings,
--pseudonym

Hi Kimisita,
 
I've read that teethgrinding is related to sleep apnea, particularly in the arousal state, if I'm getting it right.  I would have thought that now that he's sleeping better he would less teeth grinding not more.  
 
My son also grinds his teeth and has since he was at least 6 months old.  We thought that he'd grow out of it but he hasn't although I haven't noticed it at night, it's more a daytime thing.  I too am a big tooth grinder since childhood and it can have long term consequences on oral health.  Besides the pain in the mornings, it has loosened some of my teeth and despite having very healthy gums, they have receded which my periodonist attributes to my grinding.  I wear a mouth guard which helps.
 
I wish I could help more but it's definitely something that needs to be looked at.  I saw one website state that hypnosis can help!  I haven't tried that, but I may!