BRUXISM IN CHILDHOOD: A CHALLENGE FOR DENTISTRY

• Autor(a) principal: Guimarães, Gabriela Gomes
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Alexandria, Adílis, Duarte, Maysa Lannes, Letieri, Aline dos Santos, Soares, Thaís Rodrigues Campos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Uningá (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.uninga.br/uninga/article/view/3547
• topic: Bruxismo; Criança; Etiologia; Terapêutica; Bruxismo; Bruxism; Bruxism; Child; Etiology; Therapeutics

Bruxism is a parafunction of the masticatory system that occurs due to involuntary and rhythmic activity of the musculature of the stomatognathic system. Its origin is multifactorial, and the main causes are local, systemic, psychological, occupational, and hereditary factors. This functional disorder can occur during day or night and the most common clinical sign is wearing on the incisal surfaces of the anterior teeth and the occlusal surfaces of the posterior teeth, in addition to increased sensitivity and damage to the supporting tissues. Thus, treatment is challenging, requiring multidisciplinary and multiprofessional approaches (dentistry, psychology, and medicine). The prevalence of childhood bruxism varies between 5.9 and 55.3%, being more common in the preschool age group. Treatments may vary depending on the etiology, patient age and severity of each case. Among the main ones, there is the making of bite plates, massage, and the use of moist heat and allopathic or homeopathic medicines. Therefore, the aim of this literature review was to discuss the etiological factors and treatments of bruxism in children. The bibliographic search was carried out in Google Academic and PubMed databases using the descriptors “bruxism”, “child”, “children”, “etiology” and “treatment” in Portuguese and English, with no restriction on language or year of publication. Researches on bruxism in childhood and that addressed its etiology and/or treatment were included.