Abstract
Sleep bruxism is a parafunction characterized by squeezing and/or grinding of the teeth. It occurs in both adults and children, and is associated with a wide variety of risk factors like harmful habits, tooth wear, orthodontic anomalies, psychological issues, etc.
Aim
The aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of sleep bruxism in school-age children and its relationship with tooth wear and orthodontic anomalies.
Materials and Methods
The object of the study are 262 children in 2 age groups: elementary scholars (aged 7-10) and middle scholars (aged 11-14). They underwent clinical examinations, which included registration of dental status, type, degree and prevalence of tooth wear and orthodontic malocclusions. Afterwards the parents completed a questionnaire about the child’s general health, bruxism, harmful habits, etc. The results were statistically processed with SPSS-19.
Results
Sleep bruxism was found in 22.1% of the examined children without predominance in any gender but a slightly higher prevalence in the elementary school group. Tooth wear was registered in 70.6% of the examined patients. The registered orthodontic anomalies had almost the same frequency – 66.4%. None of the examined risk factors presented significant relation with sleep bruxism.
Conclusions
Sleep bruxism occurs in 1/5 of the examined children but cannot be definitely related with tooth wear or orthodontic anomalies.