my son is 27 still occasionally grinds his teeth in sleep . he did it a lot when he was young and after a few different dentists finally had special  brace made up for him

cheers annie

Hi, I suffer from bruxism  and have since a child (night grinding) it was brushed off by many dentists until I found a fantastic dentist who was appalled at the lack of treatment I had received and the damage I had done to my teeth! Thousands of dollars later and after many specialist appointments, I have had my teeth realligned and the teeth I cracked treated( and the fillings I had replaced many times over- finally fixed) Since I was fitted with a night guard, further damage has been minimal. I would suggest getting a referal to a prosthdontist (who looks at the whole mouth and jaw allignment, teeth allignment and will work with dentists and orthodontists to treat  the problem. I am currently saving to have my front 6 teeth rebuilt as they are so worn down from grinding that if I don't do this, they will be at risk. THere is no quick fix. I had to have lower braces for two years so that the damage is minimised. Treatment so far has taken nearly 6 years.

I would get an opinion from another dentist. Your daughter will be getting her adult teeth and these need to be protected. It is definately worth getting a night guard fitted ( usually to the top teeth) as her teeth adult teeth are developing, it may mean that the fit is checked regularly. My brother also has a night guard, but his is only a partial one over the back teeth with a plate between. Something like this may be more suitable. Get a professional opinion as prevention is much better than cure!! PS: My 3  year old has started to grind her teeth ! So I will be taking my own advice!

Thanks for all the links and advice.

It's called Bruxism, my youngest sister grinds her teeth and had to have a kind of clean mouth guard made up. it's like the retainers you wear after getting braces on.  not sure how it'd go when she's getting adult teeth in though. another suggestion is to see another dentist to get some other advice on it.

Hi Elaine and welcome to Minti!  I was typing up a response but my twins have woken up and are crying.  I will type up an advice about this, so just wait!

Its called a dental night mouth guard. look at these sites

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=1006031806086

http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/medical/Dentists/mouthguard.html

my mum use to grind her teeth while sleeping and she got a special mouth guard made up. i will find out more for you

Tassie