Factors Associated with Bruxism in Children with Development Disabilities

Bruxism is a case where an individual continuously without knowing grinds or gnashes his or her teeth either when deep asleep or on some occasions when wide awake. There are two types of Bruxism; sleep and awake conditions. Sleep bruxism occurs when a person is sleeping and is typically connected to other mental situations like snoring while awake bruxism takes place when a person is consciously active but does not on common grounds aware when clenching his or her teeth. Studies show that sleep bruxism is frequent compared to awake bruxism with a wide range of different statistic percentages said to be 5% to 40% globally. In instances where youngsters with psychological malfunctions are involved, the rates range from 28% to 30%. Other studies show that children with growth afflictions, for example, the typical one cerebral palsy are more prone to bruxism disorder compared to the others developing regularly. Also, they are connected to sucking habits among other mental complications. Understanding bruxism in patients with growth disabilities like cerebral palsy can go a long way in helping researchers identify circumstances that lead to them acquiring such illnesses, therefore making it easy for doctors to find treatment for the relevant victims.

Research on bruxism was accepted by the Human Research Ethics known as U.F.M.G with several investigations conducted on children with developmental disabilities. Several methodologies were used to compile reports, for instance, dental charts which helped on experimental grounds to find out whether it was factual that youngsters with growth disorders are more susceptible to bruxism. Statistics regulated in the year 1998 January up to December 2013 on a total aggregate of 389 charts helped in the research work, the experiment which was coordinated on an interim of 95% enabled the instruments to be tested quickly (Souza, Abreu, Resende & Castilho, 2015). Supervision of thumb sucking was also done and the specimen used in computation as it had the most significant number of children possessing the complication. Adequate information was obtained from the charts of those sick children which helped the spectator in writing his reports on issues he witnessed regarding dental examination. These reports were not one hundred percent legit, but the viewer performed the standard routine procedure in the area of study. For inspection reasons later on, the classification was by children with bruxism being placed under one category and those without the condition put in a different rank altogether. This categorization was compiled after interviews were conducted on the guardians of the children in question. The final report was then submitted to the logistic regression for relevant calculations to determine the p values of the whole study.

The scrutiny was done on the entire 389 charts of youngsters of age group one to thirteen to ascertain the exact percentages of bruxism rate. Only twenty of the charts could not provide the correct data needed, and on top of this, the parents of the victimized children also gave a reasonable percentage of detailed information totaling to 36.3%. The study disclosed that females were more vulnerable to bruxism than their male counterparts. Another written account that was observed showed children with gastroesophageal reflux had a higher affinity to bruxism compared to others. Furthermore, those youngsters with reflexive movements were found to be highly liable to bruxism. Results showed that other cases connected to bruxism were mouth breathing and neurological diagnosis.

In conclusion, bruxism cannot be clearly related to any gender but two studies conducted have shown that the condition reduces with age among boys. Additionally, there are some characteristics displayed by children with developmental disabilities that make them more susceptible to bruxism with aspects such as reflexive movements, and gastroesophageal reflux are directly connected to bruxism.

Reference

Souza, V. A. F., Abreu, M. H. N. G., Resende, V. L. S., & Castilho, L. S. (2015). Factors associated with bruxism in children with developmental disabilities. Brazilian oral research, 29(1), 01-05.

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