Your Child Grinds Their Teeth at Night, Should You Worry?

Kids Dental Health Tips

Key Takeaway: Somewhere between 15% and 33% of children grind their teeth at night, and most of them stop on their own once their permanent teeth grow in. Pediatric dentists call this bruxism. On its own, it’s usually harmless. But grinding that comes with snoring, mouth breathing, jaw pain, or morning headaches can point to something worth investigating: airway obstruction, bite problems, or sleep-disordered breathing. A pediatric dentist in Toronto can check for wear patterns and figure out whether the grinding needs attention or is just a phase your child will grow out of.

What does teeth grinding in kids actually look like?

You probably won’t see it happening. Most parents find out by walking past their child’s room at night and hearing a rhythmic scraping sound. It can be startlingly loud. Kids almost never know they’re doing it.

Bruxism is the clinical term, and sleep medicine specialists classify it as a sleep-related movement activity. It can start as early as the first year of life. The peak window falls between ages 2 and 6, though a second wave sometimes shows up when permanent molars arrive around age 6 or 7.

Why do kids grind their teeth?

There’s no single cause. Several factors can overlap.

Developmental jaw growth. Young children’s jaws and teeth are changing constantly. Grinding may be the body’s way of settling new teeth into a comfortable bite. This is the most common explanation in toddlers and preschoolers, and it tends to resolve on its own.
Airway and breathing issues. This one gets less attention but matters more than many parents realize. Studies have found a strong link between sleep bruxism and sleep-disordered breathing in children, including enlarged tonsils or adenoids. When a child’s airway is partially blocked during sleep, the body sometimes pushes the jaw forward to keep it open. That forward thrust creates grinding. If your child snores, breathes through their mouth at night, or seems restless during sleep, the grinding could be connected to an airway problem.
Stress. A new school, a move, changes at home. Kids process stress physically, and nighttime grinding is one way it shows up.
Bite alignment. When upper and lower teeth don’t meet properly (malocclusion), the jaw may grind as it searches for a resting position.

When is it just a phase?

Most of the time. Kids who grind their baby teeth typically stop once those teeth fall out and permanent ones replace them. If your child isn’t in pain, sleeps fine, and their teeth look normal at regular dental checkups, there’s usually nothing to treat. Baby teeth can handle a surprising amount of grinding before there’s real damage.

When should you actually be concerned?

Pay attention if your child wakes up with a sore or tired jaw, gets frequent morning headaches, or has teeth that look noticeably flat or chipped. Ear pain with no infection is another clue.

The biggest red flag is grinding paired with disordered breathing at night. Snoring, gasping, mouth breathing during sleep. A systematic review in Oral Diseases found that sleep bruxism and breathing disorders in children frequently go together, though the exact cause-and-effect relationship is still being studied. If you’re seeing both, it’s worth looking beyond the teeth.

What can a pediatric dentist do?

At Little Pearls Pediatric Dentistry in North York, we start by checking the wear on the teeth and asking about sleep quality, breathing, and any changes at home.

For most kids, the answer is watchful waiting. We track wear patterns at each visit.

When grinding is aggressive enough to damage permanent teeth, a custom night guard can protect the surfaces. Same idea as a sports mouthguard, just worn at night. Skip the boil-and-bite guards from the pharmacy; they’re made for adult mouths and can shift a child’s bite or become a choking risk.

If we suspect an airway issue, we’ll talk through what that looks like and what the options are. For children where tongue posture or oral muscle function is part of the picture, Drashti, our dental hygienist and myofunctional therapist, works with kids on exercises that retrain breathing and tongue position.

And if stress seems to be driving it? A calming bedtime routine, fewer screens before sleep, and open conversations about worries can do a lot.

The bottom line for tonight

Grinding is common and it usually passes. The things worth paying attention to are jaw pain, worn-down teeth, morning headaches, and especially disrupted breathing during sleep. Those signal that something else might be going on. Mention it at your child’s next visit and we’ll take a look.