Craniofacial features among children with bruxism: A systematic review

Abstract

Bruxism is a repetitive jaw-muscle activity characterized by clenching or grinding of the teeth and/or by bracing or thrusting of the mandible which can occur either during sleep or during wakefulness. Bruxism has become one of increasing concern among children as it has a negative impact on quality of life and is prevalent among 40 percent of children.As a result of mechanical grinding either during night or day time, bruxism in children leads to tooth wear, tooth mobility, tongue/cheek indentation, masticatory muscle hypertrophy, facial pain and head ache. The changes in the oro-facial region due to bruxism, calls for an early diagnosis and management of bruxism in children. The objective of this systematic review is to systematically evaluate the craniofacial changes associated with bruxism in children. An electronic search of the following databases which includes PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and Cochrane were performed till Dec 2018.The results of the systematic review indicate attrition of teeth as a common outcome of grinding of teeth along with other consequences that includes changes in palatal morphology and hypertrophy of masticatory muscles. However, studies with similar criteria for diagnosis of bruxism is required to determine the craniofacial changes.