AimeeM Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 The Marvelous Flying Marco (turning 6 in a couple weeks) has, for the past couple weeks, been complaining that two teeth (bottom, back -- opposite sides, directly across from each other) "hurt" when I brush those specific teeth or when he chews anything crunchy. However, when I look there is nothing noticeably wrong with them -- and he had a dental check up/cleaning a few months ago, complete with full x-rays, and had no cavities. He does have a pretty pronounced overbite, but that isn't something they are looking to fix at his age ? I have, however, noticed that he has a tendency to clench or grind his teeth during the day. I frequently have to remind him not to. Could the teeth aching be him grinding or clenching at night in his sleep? Because of where the specific two teeth are, it strikes me as something of this nature. If so, what can I do -- or what could a dentist do? He will not wear a mouth guard. Marco is ASD (more severe on the spectrum) and has several serious sensory aversions, primarily oral in nature. We're searching for a new OT, and they would work with him on those issues, but honestly that would be a long term goal, since keeping something (like a mouthguard) in his mouth all night is much different than simply trying a differently-textured food. And his receptive language disorder is pretty marked, so explaining the necessity would be almost impossible. I'm wondering if there are other options. The mouth guard is the only one that came to mind because I have adult family members who do the same, and they were give (or told to get) mouth guards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailaena Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Is it his 6-yo molars coming in? Gums get tender, extra chewing and grinding can happen, and it can take forever and may not be super apparent to you ? other than chew sticks, I have no advice, sorry: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted May 30, 2018 Author Share Posted May 30, 2018 4 minutes ago, Ailaena said: Is it his 6-yo molars coming in? Gums get tender, extra chewing and grinding can happen, and it can take forever and may not be super apparent to you ? other than chew sticks, I have no advice, sorry: You know, I thought about his molars coming in, but it isn't the "all the way" back teeth -- it's the tooth right before the existing back tooth, on both sides (exact same tooth on both sides)? He IS losing baby teeth like crazy all of a sudden, though. He'd lost none at his dentist appointment, but has now lost two (and the adult teeth are coming in quite well) and has another loose, all in the past few months. All front (bottom) teeth, but molars actually might be the reason. Maybe it's the gums, not the teeth, and he may not be able to identify the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 It could be clenching/grinding the teeth that is causing the pain. I was very very stressed out several years ago and thought I had hurt a tooth. The dentist could not see any problem with it but gave me some antibiotics and a referral to an endodontist (root canal specialist). There was a two week plus wait to see the specialist. It took him less than ten minutes to figure out I didn’t need a root canal but did need to find a better solution to stress. He recommended meditation. Probably not helpful for your situation. All that to say, yes it could be clenching/grinding his teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailaena Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 How does he handle loose teeth? If they bother him, like in an aversion kind of way, maybe the grinding/clenching is related to that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted May 30, 2018 Author Share Posted May 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, Ailaena said: How does he handle loose teeth? If they bother him, like in an aversion kind of way, maybe the grinding/clenching is related to that? He actually doesn't mind it at all. We play up the Tooth Fairy pretty big here -- and there's a fair bit of competition going with his 9 year old brother and "grown-up teeth," lol. Actually, he yanked out his last loose tooth on his own. He woke me up a few days ago by handing me his tooth with a huge grin on his face. He gets visibly excited about any new loose teeth, and runs around the house showing everybody who will look ? ETA: he's actually always clenched his teeth, now that I think about it. The teeth aching is relatively new, but I can recall the clenching being an issue even when he was still a nursing toddler. It seems like when he's most relaxed he clenches, if that makes any sense at all. Like his teeth automatically set in a clench. When he was nursing, it would happen most frequently as he was dosing off. Ouch for me, but that's besides the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 My daughter’s teeth were sometimes sore and bothered her a lot when she brushed her teeth. The dentist suggested using Sensodyne toothpaste and seeing how she was doing after two weeks. Well, after two weeks it wasn’t bothering her and she continues to use Sensodyne. She would have been around the same age, I think, she was 6 or 7. I never noticed any grinding and she did have an office visit to the dentist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Another idea is to try giving him pain relief medicine if you think he is getting new teeth. It’s one of those things I think can be worth trying if it seems particularly bad sometimes. It might help you to see if it seems to gets better or stay the same with pain relief medicine. It could be a data point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Oh, I don’t have any particular explanation for my daughter and using Sensodyne. The dentist basically said some people have sensitive teeth and if Sensodyne helps, just have her use Sensodyne and don’t worry about it. She doesn’t have any problems with her teeth or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 the farthest back teeth can hurt if clenching/grinding. telling him not to do it, isn't going to help very much as it is a very unconscious behavior. you need to find the root cause. often it is stress - even in a child. I ground my teeth terribly as a child - when I got out of my source of stress, my grinding stopped on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 I took my kid to the dentist yesterday for this very issue. He said to use a toothpaste for sensitive teeth. For my kid, it was definitely a stress reaction, and the thing that was causing him stress has been removed, and the teeth grinding has stopped. He said it will take a bit for the sensitivity to go away, but the sensitive teeth toothpaste will help. (If you can get your kid to use it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 The problem with ASD is he probably isn't telling you how much it hurts. With my ds, if he's saying it hurts, it actually hurts a LOT. We were seeing the pain come out as other behaviors. I would try the pain medication at whatever dosing your ped suggests and see if anything improves. Our ped gave us dosing that was a bit higher than what the bottle said. We now use number scales for pain, rather than letting it be hurt/not hurt. But we pre-emptively dose for pain and don't wait for him to tell us. It's hurting him long before he tells us. Also, we are doing 2-stages braces with ds, so he got his at 8/9. He needed a palate expander. :( So you never know. We have to drive farther for our orthodontist (45 minutes each way), but he's very autism-friendly, gets sensory, has a super quiet office, and is always on-time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulalu Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Six year old molars coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Besides grinding teeth, molars and other new teeth coming in, any chance he has something stuck under the gum line? DS has a piece of popcorn kernel stuck under the gum line. He would complain of pain and we had just had a dental appointment a little bit before this started. I called the dentist to just get it checked out and he found the popcorn kernel. I couldn’t see it just looking at his tooth and the dentist was really looking things over and that is how it was found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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