When raising children, parents may experience various changes in their behavior. One of these phenomena is the grinding of teeth. Since this is a rather unpleasant situation, parents are looking for an answer to the question of why the children grit their teeth in the afternoon. Is it dangerous? This article will help you answer this question.
Bruxism
Before you understand why children grind their teeth in the afternoon at 6 months or at any other age, you need to find out what this phenomenon is.
So, in science and medicine, gnashing of teeth is called bruxism. The scientific definition is as follows: "Bruxism is an involuntary contraction of the masticatory muscles, during which there is a characteristic creaking sound."
However, this phenomenon is not considered a separate disease. This also does not apply to the norm. Often, bruxism is a concomitant symptom in neurological or psychological diseases.
By frequency, day and night bruxism is distinguished. Most often, the night form of this phenomenon occurs. It does not harm health. While daytime bruxism is a wake-up call. However, it is less common.
Statistics
Why do children grit their teeth in the afternoon at 2 years old? Because in the first 8 years of life, approximately 50% of children are affected by this phenomenon.
However, reaching its zenith, bruxism usually goes away on its own, without requiring any therapeutic measures.
New sensations
Usually, when the baby has the first teeth, parents begin to notice that their child can sometimes creak with them. The most obvious thing parents will think is: “Will it harm the child?”
Situations, of course, are different, and it is obvious that this event is not always a cause for concern. Very often, the reason why a one-year-old baby grinds his teeth during the day is simple interest. The baby is simply exploring everything new, and his body too. He wonders what kind of sound arises when the teeth touch each other.
In this situation, parents can be advised to be patient. As soon as the baby learns this sound, far and wide, he himself will stop these manipulations.
Teething
Another reason why children grind their teeth for up to a year during the day is teething. When the baby has just begun this process, he always seeks to scratch the irritated gums with any improvised means. Usually, own hands or objects falling under them are used. Parents usually buy crumbs special rubber teething.
When the first teeth are already ringing on a spoon when feeding the baby, parents usually cease to acquire special equipment for their teething. And then the kids begin to take care of themselves. They try to relieve itching and irritation in the gums by gritting their teeth.
When the unpleasant sensations cease to bother the child, he will stop pestering the parents with this unpleasant sound.
Negative emotions
A young child, by virtue of his age, cannot yet express his emotions verbally. And therefore, improvised means are often used. When expressing negative emotions or anger, a child can grit his teeth.
Also, often children behave in a similar way in spite of parents or older brothers and sisters. This is also a manifestation of character, so you should not scold the child for such actions. On the contrary, listen to the baby or try to eliminate the misunderstanding among older and younger children. Perhaps, having understood the situation, you will be able to eradicate the cause of this behavior.
Why do children grit their teeth in the afternoon at 2 years or more? This may indicate a psychological strain of the child or stress. In such a situation, it is important not to miss the moment and take timely measures to eliminate traumatic situations.
Malocclusion
To know exactly why a small child grinds his teeth during the day, you should consult a dentist. It is a qualified specialist who will help determine the true cause of this behavior of children.
When a child begins to climb teeth, his dentition is actively forming. And here, daytime bruxism may indicate the presence of a malocclusion. A child in such a situation creates a creaking sound not on purpose, but because of an anatomical defect.
Weaning
Why do children grind their teeth during the day? Perhaps they are now experiencing a period such as excommunication. Often babies have a kind of habit. More precisely, this is called a residual sucking reflex.
Thus, children try to suppress their desire to cling to their mother’s breasts.
Also, daytime bruxism is observed not only when weaning, but also when refusing nipples, soothers, bottles and other breast substitutes.
Bad habit
It is very important for parents to correctly assess the situation. It may turn out that grinding your teeth is just a manifestation of bad taste. The child might have liked the sound, and he decided to just unnerve him around.
Also, when answering the question why children grind their teeth during the day, it is important to understand at what point this sound began to attract your child. Perhaps there is a logical explanation for this.
Concomitant symptom
Often with a disease of ENT organs in children, daytime bruxism appears. This is a kind of concomitant symptom with overgrown adenoids, polyps or bronchitis. In this situation, children grit their teeth only during the period of the disease.
When the underlying disease recedes, this phenomenon also ceases to pester the child. But in any case, it is better to contact the pediatrician immediately after the appearance of an unpleasant sound.
Hereditary factor
In finding the answer to the question why children grind their teeth during the day, it is important to consider the factor of inheritance. If any of your relatives showed bruxism, then you should not be surprised to hear this sound from your child.
Of course, heredity is not fully responsible for the presence of such a phenomenon. Most likely, any related factors provoked him, and genes simply contributed to its manifestation.
In this situation, you also can’t let everything go by itself. It is necessary to consult a doctor and find out what factors nevertheless provoked the appearance of grinding of teeth and how to prevent them.
Lack of vitamins and minerals
The most common cause of bruxism is vitamin deficiency. All this appears because with a lack of vitamins a spasm and a general disruption of the functioning of the muscular system of the body occur. Therefore, it is grinding teeth (due to spasm of the masticatory muscle).
To combat this, doctors recommend that in the autumn-winter and spring period, the whole family take vitamin complexes. The main components should be calcium, magnesium and B vitamins.
Disorders of the central nervous system
Neurologists see the cause of bruxism in the failure of the central nervous system. This is because disorders in the activity of the nervous system, as well as neurological inflammatory processes affect the action of the facial and articulatory nerves. This, in turn, causes spasms of the masticatory muscles and grinding of teeth.
By the way, the manifestations of bruxism at night can indicate the presence of tremor, an epileptic seizure, or apnea syndrome. This suggests that the child has problems with the central nervous system.
Worms
If you ask our grandparents: “Why do children grind their teeth in the afternoon?” - they will immediately say that the child has worms. However, medicine refutes the fact that helminthic infestations are the root cause of bruxism.
But they can be a provoking factor. This is because helminthic infestations cause intoxication of the body, and subsequently a lack of B vitamins. This already leads to neurotic disorders, which ultimately manifests itself as a grinding of teeth.
Consequences of bruxism
Like any other action, grinding your teeth also has its consequences. In most cases, they are negative. Despite the fact that the consequences directly depend on the cause that caused it, in all cases the same trend is observed. Regular pressure on the jaw affects the bite and condition of the teeth and gums.
If the cause is not eliminated in time, the child may develop the following diseases:
- periodontal disease;
- caries;
- erasing dents and tooth enamel;
- malocclusion;
- loss of teeth (both milk and permanent);
- masticatory muscle dysfunction and facial asymmetry;
- hearing impairment.
It is important to understand that problems with teeth in a child will pass into adulthood, only a hundred times more serious. Therefore, the task of parents is to diagnose and fix the dental problems of their children in time.
When to sound the alarm?
As we have already found out, teeth grinding is not always a cause for concern. To find out when to visit a doctor, parents need to pay attention to the following indicators:
- periodicity (throughout the day - more than 5-6 times, if less, then this is referred to as normal options);
- duration (rattle less than 10-20 seconds is normal).
If parents note a frequent and protracted creaking behind their children, then this is an alarming bell and serves as an occasion for the examination.
Pediatric Tips
Many parents prefer not to understand the situation on their own, but seek qualified help from knowledgeable people. When asking a pediatrician why children grit their teeth in the afternoon at 1 year and 4 months, you can hear that this is absolutely normal. But what then to do? Pediatricians advise parents in every possible way to distract the child from this lesson.
Milk teeth are rather brittle, and a constant gnash does not add to their strength. These manipulations lead to the erasure of the enamel. If you think that the first dentition of the child will still change, and it is not necessary to monitor it, then you are deeply mistaken. Destruction can reach the indigenous people, who are still sitting deep in the gums, and they will come out already spoiled.
Also, pediatricians recommend distracting the child from these manipulations. Invite your child to play, read a book, or help mom do something. If the baby grinds his teeth on the street, you can distract him with the surrounding landscapes.