My son used to grind his teeth up until the age of 16 then it just stopped he is 19 now so whether it has something to do with adolesence aswell is a mystery I just thought it was interesting that this is when it stopped it was horrible to listen to anyway now he just snores just like dear old dad.

Nice article, reading the comments it seems to have helped a lot of people.

I have a few issues with it though.

I'm not sure bruxism is becoming more common in children. It probably is being diagnosed more often though.

I think bruxism is more linked to stress than to occlusal (bite) problems. You're also more likely to suffer from bruxism if you already have some other sleep disorder or parasomnia, such as snoring, sleep talking, violent behaviour during sleep, sleep paralysis etc.. (The greatest risk factor for bruxism is sleep apnoea but that's very rare.) You're also at greater risk if you smoke, drink lots of alcohol or drink lots of caffeine. Finally, it can also be a side effect of drugs for depression, anxiety and sleep.

The association with bed wetting is interesting. As I've mentioned pre-existing parasomnias are risk factors for sleep bruxism. But also, both bruxism and bed wetting are linked to stress so I expect that is why there is such a strong link. I think parents should be very careful not to cause their children to worry about wetting the bed. As this will probably only make the bed wetting worse, and may make bed times stressful enough for the child to cause them to grind their teeth.

Bruxism is associated with arousals (not sexual!) during sleep, so it could be that children who grind their teeth in their sleep are getting poor quality sleep. If this is the case parents may experience more tantrums in the morning!

In general teeth grinding in children is not something to worry about whilst they still have their baby teeth. It may be worth asking yourself whether it could be caused by stress. One of the commenters has said her daughter's teeth grinding was exacerbated by bullying at school, which is worth tackling for its own reasons.

The study you mention linking bruxism and sodium levels sounds interesting. Do you have a link to an abstract for it? Did the study suggest drinking water over milk or was that your own suggestion? To be honest that sounds very strange, milk is mostly water and so should hydrate you pretty well. I don't think there's any point in forcing water down a child's throat if they prefer milk of orange squash!

I hope I've been helpful. More information on sleep bruxism can be found at The Bruxism Association website. The information is mostly concerning bruxism in adults though.

This is a really good read.I didn't know that teeth grinding had a medical name (bruxism) either.

I found this interesting reading not for my children but for me! Yes you guessed it-I grind my teeth in my sleep, it was my dentist who told me and I do it due to stress apparently. I also clench my teeth without realising it during the day when I get really stressed and this is vey painful on my jaw.

As for the teeth grinding I was asked if I wanted to wear a gum shield but I am not too sure on this idea-not very sexy is it!!!

thanks for this article though!!

I am very interested in topics from the spiritual realm, and through alot of my reading, have come across "teeth grinding" is an indicator that a departed loved one is close by and comunicating with our children, my eldest does this almost every night, although never wets the bed, apparently it is similar to white noise!?!? Not proven but just another thought to ponder....

love this article its great thanks for sharing xxshar

Thanks for the great advice.  I will try the water with both my son and my husband.  My husband has a mouth guard, but it needs to be replaced at least once a year as he grinds it through.  His is mostly stress related so I will try the water and maybe more frequent massges to help relieve the tension.  Anyone who says that they tried a guard and it didn't work (still had sore jaw, etc) just remember that you may still grind your teeth, but your teeth will not wear down.  My son will hopefully grow out of it, or I may have to wait until his adult teeth are through and get him a guard as well.

i always thought when children grinded their teeth, it was thru stress. I could be wrong.

My daughter grinds her teeth and has since she was about 3.  When she lost her first two top teeth in the front she had ground her teeth so badly there was a hole through the center of them.  Our dentist said that he will not give her a night guard until all of her adult teeth come in.  Hopefully there won't be too much damage to her teeth before that time comes.

This was the most infomative article I had found in a long time. Astonishing enough, my daughter who grinds her teeth also has a bed wetting problem and I had never heard of the association. Right now, I am up in the middle of the night just beside myself however that the grinding STOPPED... It almost woke me up that she is sleeping soundly. Therefore, it must be stress related, as school has been out a week, and her grinding is usually severe... very severe. Here are some remedies I have found worked in the past quite well:

1. Relieve the pressure from the jaw. i.e.: put the head on a pillow in a fashion that actually causes the jaw to rest relaxed. This works great.

2. Rub the jaw when it starts gently where the jaw meets. Try and relax the muscle.

3. Gentle reminders to a young child who rotates in the tooth grinding during the night can be helpful. You don't have to wake them up to help them stop.

I found that it actually dissipates over time if you are willing to give up a bit of sleep yourself and help them through it. With all this said, I am going back to sleep and enjoy the grindless night now that school is out. September will roll around all too quickly!!! In the meantime, we will drink more water at night...

Teeth Grinding may be a vitamin deficiency. I think there is a lot more that should be done about this nasty habit as it continues into adulthood. It may be similar to pica in that the subconscious mind, while in the sleep mode, is trying to deal with various stressors, such as physical and emotional.  Perhaps there is a combination of night grinding and other sleep disturbances which could be relieved later in life by a good sleep clinic or hypnosis? I would like to know how often children who night grind continue the problem into adulthood. Are there any studies in this area? Please let me know! Thank-you! mahen2121

I used to grind my teeth and didn't know about it until a few years ago when a new dentist mentioned it. He got me a mouth guard to wear at night. Though I confess, I only wore it the first couple of weeks I got it. My dentist said that the mouth guard will wear out after a while so when I didn't see any change to it I stopped. I know, I know.. I'm bad. But I trully think I've stopped it though.

Anyway, my son grinded his teeth when he had only 3. I was so worried that it would ruin his teeth so I started to squeeze his cheeks together to discourage it. It didn't quite work because of course I could only do it when I see him do it. Thankfully he uses a pacifier, so I just let him have it all the time. It stopped after a week. 

I used to grind my teeth.  I didn't know until I was referred to an orthodontist to get braces to relieve a jaw joint.  My teeth were straight.  I also remember going to a specialist who asked my parents if I grind my teeth.  they said yes.  news to me.  anyway, I had braces at the age of 13 or 14 for 18 months.  it didn't help my jaw joint which was clicky; still is. my cross bite, overtime, returned to it's typewriter fashion.  I continued to grind my teeth into my twenties and subsequently cracked my second back molar.  In my case, I believe stress could have played a big part in my teeth grinding when I was younger, which studies have shown is a key contributor.  in my ealy twenties, drugs and alcohol were probably to blame.  I have found in my thirties, although not stress free but more managed and definitely drug and alcohol free, I no longer grind my teeth.  adding to the wonderful info given by Matthew, I found this site quite informative.  http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/BHCV2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Teeth_grinding?OpenDocument