Physiotherapy for children’s teeth grinding and jaw tensions is designed to provide relief for the little patients. Various therapeutic measures are taken to help the children get rid of teeth grinding and to loosen up the muscles in acute tensions. Depending on the age of the child, different measures are possible. The physiotherapist decides which of these is most suitable for the child to be treated on the basis of various factors such as the cause of the problems, concomitant diseases, the child’s stage of development and general state of health.
Causes
Almost all children grind their teeth at some point during their development. This has a very harmless cause. Most often, the grinding is noticed by the parents in connection with the eruption of the milk teeth and later when they switch to permanent teeth.
The reason for the grinding is occlusion (when the mouth is closed), which means that the child grinds the teeth to fit and grind them together so that the jaws fit together perfectly. As a rule, the grinding should disappear when the teeth stop growing. Especially with school children, the teeth grinding can also have a psychological cause, namely when they experience stress due to external influences or are burdened by worries and fears.
Especially sensitive children process this stress at night by grinding their teeth. Teeth grinding can also be a bad habit, for example out of defiance, when the child does not get his will and then literally grinds his teeth. From the various causes, it follows that although the child’s teeth grinding may not always require treatment or be a cause for concern, the enormous forces that teeth grinding exerts on the jaw can cause a number of other problems, such as neck tension, which can lead to further symptoms such as headaches or muscle pain, and later on, due to a relieving posture, children develop incorrect movement patterns and holding problems. In the following articles you will find comprehensive information about the following articles:
- Physiotherapy for migraine/headaches of children
- Physiotherapy for children with shoulder and neck tension
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