Crunching in children
In children and especially in infants with milk teeth, teeth grinding occurs during the night and also during the day. This is primarily due to the fact that the teeth of the milk or permanent dentition break through and the optimal bite of the child is only formed over time. The period in which the milk teeth break through is from 6 months to almost 2 years, the permanent teeth come at the age of 6-8 and from 9-12.
In these phases of the tooth change, the grinding of teeth at night is physiological, i.e. completely normal and harmless, so that the optimal bite is formed. You can find information about tooth replacement in children here. The teeth bump against each other the first few times and align themselves in such a way that they are in the best functional position.
This is primarily done by grinding, as this creates an even contact of all teeth with their counter teeth, the bite. The child tends to grind until a uniform, even contact is established, which is the best functional result. It is noticeable that the phases in which the child crunches often last for several months and end immediately when the optimal bite position is reached.
This crunching usually causes no discomfort to the children, which is a difference to the symptoms of adults. Therapeutically, nothing is usually done for children, since the crunching is self-adjusting. If the child’s bite development is disturbed and the grinding is caused by a malocclusion, an orthodontic therapy with loose or fixed braces is initiated.
What are the consequences of the crunching?
Consequences of night-time crunching can have serious consequences in the pathological course, but in children the crunching is usually harmless. The crunching of the children causes the bite to form in the tooth breakthrough or tooth change.Once the optimal bite position is reached, the crunching is stopped immediately and no negative consequences are to be expected. However, if the development of the teeth is disturbed and the crunching is pathological as in most adults, teeth, periodontium and temporomandibular joint can be damaged by the excessive load.
The teeth rub against each other and the bite sinks as a result, which means that the temporomandibular joint has to adapt to a new bite position, but only to a certain extent. The affected patient gets up in the morning with severe pain in the jaw and temporomandibular joint and the pain can also radiate, causing migraine attacks and headaches. Furthermore, the chewing muscles are also tense, which can lead to a lockjaw or jaw lock.
The patient experiences discomfort when opening or closing the mouth and any attempt to do so leads to severe pain. Without treatment, the crunching can lead to wear and tear of the temporomandibular joint, the temporomandibular joint arthrosis, which inevitably leads to a severe functional impairment of the chewing apparatus. Any consequences of grinding in relation to the temporomandibular joint are, due to their complexity, subordinated to the term “cranio-mandibular dysfunction”, which affects one in three people in the population today.
