Treatment of bruxism in children. A systematic review

Purpose: To conduct a systematic review to assess and analyze the scientific evidence about the available therapies for bruxism in children 3-10 year old. Methods: The literature was searched using Medline, Pubmed, ovid, EBSCO, ISI, Cochrane Library, Lylacs, Scielo and the Internet, from March 1985 to the end of September 2007. The inclusion criteria were: Investigations that treated bruxism with pharmacotherapy, or physical therapy, surgical and/or psychological treatments. The use of occlusal plates in children with bruxism was explored as well. All the studies had to deal with child samples and were required to be clinical trials or well done comparative studies. The children included in the studies had to be 3 - 10 year old, with no other type of oral habits and the diagnosis of bruxism should be performed considering the multifactorial etiology of the parafunction in children. Results: From 52 records found, 2 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. One of them treated bruxism widening the upper airway through adenoidectomy and the other study proposed to treat bruxism in children with psychological techniques. When analyzed, the two considered studies did not full accomplish the requirements to treat bruxism in children directly to its etiology. Conclusion: The available literature does not provide adequate support to treat bruxism in children, as the diagnosis methods in the studies are not good enough and are not comparable to confirm the presence of bruxism. Very few studies about therapies for bruxism in children meet the quality criteria required for the evidence based practice. Treatment for bruxism in children requires further studies.