Does grinding your teeth while sleeping mean you have worms in your stomach?

In the outpatient clinic, I am often asked about children grinding their teeth when sleeping, and almost everyone asks whether they have bugs in their stomachs. I sometimes wonder how this deep-rooted association was formed? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there were too many children with parasites in their stomachs when we were young?

In a family with normal conditions and without pets at home, the chance of children contracting parasites is very low.

First of all, there are very few people suffering from parasitic diseases now, and the chance of worm eggs in stool is very low. Secondly, even if there are worm eggs in the stool, defecation almost never happens anywhere nowadays, so children have very few chances of coming into contact with worm eggs while playing, and few of them are infected. Furthermore, washing hands frequently, especially before meals, has become a habit for most people. Even if they come into contact with insect eggs, they will be washed clean.

Parasites will not be generated automatically in the body, and without external sources, the number of diseases will naturally decrease.

Some mothers are still worried and collect stool samples to look for worm eggs, but they have never found any.

There is one exception, if you have a dog in the house. Some parasites are zoonotic. If a dog has parasites, the possibility of infection cannot be ruled out if children play closely with it.

Therefore, in areas with good hygiene conditions, there is basically no connection between teeth grinding while sleeping and parasites.

What other reasons may cause teeth grinding while sleeping?

The reasons for clenching teeth during sleep are not entirely clear. It may be related to the following factors.

indigestion

When children eat too much at dinner and eat a lot of difficult-to-digest food, such as too much meat or fried food, it exceeds the gastrointestinal capacity. Or the child’s gastrointestinal function is not good: such as gastroenteritis or respiratory tract infection causing decreased gastrointestinal function.

At this time, the gastrointestinal tract cannot effectively digest food, and it is easy to clench your teeth after sleeping.

Being emotional or nervous

Children are too excited during the day and play too hard, so their cerebral cortex does not get a complete rest after falling asleep. Some nerves are still in an excited state, which will cause them to clench their teeth after falling asleep.

Teeth grinding is also likely to occur when one is too nervous, angry, or anxious.

Misaligned teeth

Poor tooth occlusion and temporomandibular joint dysfunction can also cause nocturnal bruxism.

The following conditions are also not related to parasites

White spots on the face

Parasites can cause white spots on the face. Nowadays, when parasites are rare, white spots on the face are more likely to be eczema or sun spots. This local depigmentation of facial skin is more likely caused by a disease of the skin itself.

White spots on nail bed

There is no information showing that there is any necessary connection between parasites and white spots on the nail beds. From a professional perspective, there is currently no particularly precise explanation for the small white spots on the nail beds.

Some information believes that this phenomenon is related to the child's digestive condition. Its occurrence indicates that the child's digestion and absorption have not been very good in recent times. Some people also believe that these small white spots appear when the nail bed is slightly damaged due to collision.

If your child grinds his teeth while sleeping, has white spots on his face and nails, and has frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea and unsatisfactory weight gain recently, the possibility of parasites should also be considered. Collect the child's stool for testing, and the diagnosis can be made by finding worm eggs in the stool.