Question

A 10-year-old girl with poor dietary habits grinds her teeth during her afternoon nap. I would like to inquire about the causes and treatment methods for this grinding.

Answer

Grinding teeth is not a normal phenomenon but a pathological condition, one common cause of which is intestinal parasitic infection, particularly ascariasis, which is quite common in children. Even after treatment, if the cerebral cortex has developed a fixed conditioned reflex, the nighttime grinding behavior may not disappear immediately. Especially if the gastrointestinal condition has improved, functional disorders may still persist, so the grinding behavior may not be corrected in the short term and may require longer-term treatment to improve.