Teeth Grinding

[JoJ5375]

My little girl is 4 and she has Down Syndrome. For a while now she has been grinding her teeth but lately it seems to have got worse. She doesn't do it in her sleep but does as she is going to sleep and as she is waking up. She also starts doing it at random times during the day.

She is a very happy and loving child. She doesn't seem stressed. Telling her to stop had no effect. I don't think she know she is doing it. I know there are devices that fit in the mouth to protect the teeth but considering she refuses to wear her glasses and her hearing aid the chances of wearing a teeth protector are pretty slim.

Had anyone had any experience of this? Any ideas very welcome.
Thanks
Joanne

My boy used to do this a lot (he is autistic) and sometimes it would be effective if we just gently held his jaw with a thumb and finger and said "no grind teeth". But actually he grew out of it and I think it turned out to be just a phase (it comes back now and again, but has not stuck). Not sure if that helps, but I did not find chew toys etc really helped.

Hiya. Ds (3) with cp, grinds his teeth a lot. I think he finds it funny. We mentioned it to his specialist dentist and he said there's nothing to do and not to worry. We will worry tho :-0

Our DD1 does this too,not anything we can do it to stop it tbh :(

My DS used to grind his teeth very loudly for a number of years when he was little. A special needs dentist told me that as long as he wasn't grinding his teeth in his sleep, it wouldn't damage his teeth.

He had a gap of a few years where he completely stopped, only to start again six months ago!