Bruxismo em crianças: relato de série de casos

Abstract

Bruxism is an activity of the masticatory muscles, characterized by repetitive or prolonged contact of the teeth and/or by static or dynamic muscle contraction without the necessary presence of dental contact, not being considered a movement disorder in healthy individuals. Sleep bruxism (SB) has been shown to be more common in children than in adults, with prevalence rates ranging from 13% to 49%, with a decrease observed with age. On the other hand, awake bruxism (BV) in children has presented a prevalence of 5%. The objective of the present study is to report a case series of patients between 4 and 11 years old diagnosed with bruxism by the Nucleus of Study and Research in Orofacial Pain (NEPDOR) of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). It was observed that there is no significant prevalence in terms of sex. As for the main complaints, the main reports were pain (33.3%) and tiredness in the face (22.2%). Also, 66.7% of the patients had only SB, another 33.3% had SB and BV together, but none of them had only BV. In addition, most patients had some parafunctional habit, considering that 88.9% ground their teeth, 77.8% bit nails and 57.1% bit objects. On clinical examination, 25% of the patients had pain on palpation of the temporal muscle, and the other 75% reported pain on palpation in the masseter and temporal muscles. Regarding TMJ palpation, 33.3% of patients reported pain. Due to the vast etiology, the need for multidisciplinary care is reiterated.