Why does my child grind his teeth when he gets excited?

[a.j.v.]

What does it mean when my son grinds his teeth? is a lack of iron or just a bad habbit? He is 23 months and started to grind his teeth when he was about 20 months. He will grind his teeth in his sleep or when he gets really excited. What should I do? And is it a hereditary?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The involuntary, unconscious and also excessive grinding of teeth, usually during sleep, is called bruxism. There is no single cause of bruxism; in fact, there is not much agreement on either the cause or effective treatment. On the nutritional side, some think that in some cases a deficiency of magnesium might play a role, but this is not by any means a universal opinion. The fact is that people can display bruxism for different reasons. It does make sense to seek an evaluation by a pediatric dentist, because bruxism can cause tooth damage or headaches or hearing loss, among other things. There may well be a herediatry basis to bruxism, but this also is not universally true.

[momto2boys]

AS an adult I grinded my teeth, and clenched really bad too...dentist made me wear a mouth gard for awhile and it cleared it all up.  I would assume it's a stress thing.  Or maybe he likes the feel of it?  Could he be getting his 2 yr molars?  Maybe it's time he sees a dentist, even though they say children don't need to go til they are 3.  Oh well.  I posted before the doc did...just imputing my thoughts!  Good luck!