My 5 yrs old girl( with Down Syndrome) has grinding her teeth for a long time, it's getting worse recently. I've taken her to see her dentist twice a few months ago, but he wouldn't suggest anything, the only way is wait till she eventually will stop. She can't concentrate well and pay attention in school and even classmates felt bothered too because of the annoying grinding sound. The teacher even address this issue to me to see if I can help her. At home, I give her cheerios to chew when she starts to grind, or remind her to stop grinding, or pat her lower jaw to stop her. I tried chewing stuff, but she doesn't like it at all. Any feedback would be appreciated.
thank you all for your ideal suggestions, I checked the mouth guard in Walgreen and wal Mart, all the products are only for age over 18. Then I called her dentist again, he said a customized mouth guard cost about $200, and since my girl's jaw's still grow once the mouth guard is made by the lab, it might not fit my girl's mouth any longer now and then, plus, my girl still can take it out of her mouth if she doesn't like it. My girl doesn't like any oral tools, like chewing tool or oral vibration tool either. The only way I will try now is reduce the sugar in her food, which might be the reason trigger her to grind,( I am very positive, just try). Hopefully, she will stop it soon.
My son does this at night and the dentist said he does not have a bad case since he teeth are not grinding down too much. But he said he has seen bad cases where the child's teeth is grinded way down and he recommends guards to put into the mouth so this doesn't happen.
my son grindes his teeth and i went and got him a gard they are called nightgards. there are two diffrent kinds.
you can find them at walgeeres or wal-mart i found them at both places. OH YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PUT THESE ONES IN ANY KIND OF BOILING WATER TO SHAPE THEM, ONE SIZE FITS ALL.
R. N.
Run out and fire your dentist. A good dentist would know that grinding teeth is very harmful, not only to the teeth but to the jaw as well. He should fit your daughter with a custom mouth guard that she wears on her bottom teeth to stop the grinding. My husband has one - he grinds his teeth at night and has horrible migraines because of it.
go to sporting goods store and get a football mouth gard. about 2 dollars. follow directions about hot water and place in mouth. be careful. let air dry slightly before placing in mouth. I wear one at night at 46. I chew it at times and then I stop wearing it for a while.
Another item is a tennise ball or marble. place it in jaw area and trigger point the area. Hold for 10 seconds. It may be her muscles are stressed and need releif.
I am not a doctor but both methods work for me.
Hi I....I live in Mesa as well!! Love it!! Anyway I grind constently as well and I ended up going to a maxo-facial (not sure on spelling)doctor and they made me a mouth guard to wear anytime I want. It stops the noise and helps from not getting headaches all the time! I would recommend that you go see a Dr. and ask about it.
Good luck :0)
I. - my 4 year old son w/DS also grinds his teeth sometimes, maybe it's a DS thing - are you on the DSN list serve? if you post on there, there is usually a DS mom or dad that's had the same experience . . .
My daughter also grinds her teeth and I very surprised that your dentist didn't want to make a night guard for her mouth or even mention it. Maybe you should switch to another dentist.
We couldn't afford the price for our dentist to make ours so my daughter went to store and bought a kit where you can mold your own. They are about $20-$25 but worth every penny. She has bought them at Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
Try that and see how it works. It may help, it did for my daughter.
Good Luck
