Grinding your teeth isn’t always a telltale sign of trouble. In fact, most people do it on occasion, and if your child’s teeth are healthy, then the occasional grinding may not affect them much. However, when children grind their teeth constantly, it may be a sign of a condition known as bruxism. Besides chronic teeth-grinding, your child might also experience difficulty biting and chewing, heightened levels of tooth sensitivity, trouble sleeping, and more that could indicate a serious underlying issues. At our Livonia, MI, dental office, we may be able to address those issues and help your child stop teeth-grinding with orthotropic treatment.
A few things teeth-grinding can mean
Chronic teeth-grinding, or bruxism, can be the result of a number of different things, depending on each child’s unique oral health factors. In many cases, the involuntary grinding action is caused by a discrepancy in the alignment of your child’s teeth and/or oral and facial structures. If they aren’t aligned properly, the different elements of your child’s bite might become agitated, uncomfortable, and/or spasmatic, resulting in chronic teeth-grinding. Or, if your child’s jaw isn’t properly proportioned with their facial structures, this can place a strain on their jaw joints and muscles that contributes to chronic teeth-grinding as well as a jaw dysfunction (or TMJ disorder).
What is orthotropic treatment?
Orthotropics is a unique are of dental health care that addresses not only your child’s oral health, but also the alignment and interaction between your child’s oral and facial structures. The relationship between the two is often more complex and further reaching than you may realize, and dysfunctions aren’t always obviously related to it. The goal of orthotropic treatment is to determine if there are underlying discrepancies that may be related to your child’s bruxism (and other symptoms). Then, the right orthotropic aligners can help correct the issue and guide the proper growth and development of your child’s smile.
How this helps treat bruxism and more
By correcting alignment and other issues with facial and oral structures, orthotropics may help correct the underlying causes of your child’s bruxism. Ensuring better alignment between the jaw and facial structures will help eliminate much of the tension in your child’s bite that can contribute to or cause bruxism. This also helps reduce your child’s risk of subsequent issues that could arise, both in the short-term and long-term, such as TMJ disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, and much more.
Learn about orthotropics and teeth-grinding
If your child has a problem with teeth-grinding, then the right orthotropic treatment could help them by addressing the condition’s root cause. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling the office of James Stewart, DDS in Livonia, MI, today at (734) 425-4400.