Bruxismo: a influência no crescimento e desenvolvimento maxilo-mandibular

Abstract

It is a general agreement that bruxism ia a multi-factor parafunction that involves physiologic, biologic and psychologic processes to exist. Moreover, stilll doesnt exist a treatment for this parafunction.. The incidence of bruxism, in children, has been reported as more prevalent at the age until before 6 years old, decreasing to adulthood. Not all individuals that present bruxism in childhood will remain with this parafunction through adolescence and adulthood. Bruxism in childhood has been related to emocional states, as anxiety and traumas, oral habits, as finger nail biting and finger, pacifier and/or bottle sucking, among others. Amongst these causes, anxiety was reported as the principal cause of bruxism in children. Maxilary growth and development occur, mostly, in the first years of childhood. It has a cephalo-caudal direction and interstitial and appositional caracteristic. The maxila grows in a antero-inferior direction and it is propeled in the same direction by the growth of the bones in the base of the skull. However, its anterior portion is reshaped by apposition and absorption. On the other hand, the mandibula grows by osseous apposition on the posterior portion of its branch and absorption of the anterior portion. Despite its growth occurs in a upward and backward direction, the whole unit is propeled forward and downward due to the growth of the base of the skull. The objective of this literature review is to correlate bruxism with maxilo-mandibular growth. The correlation beteewn the prevalence of bruxism in children and its influence on maxilary growth is little described in the literature. Nevertheless, the autors who did this correlation support the hypothesis that the tension forces generated by the atriction beteewn the teeth, during sleep bruxism, in children, contributes to maxilary growth. However, due to the fact that there are other factors that contibute to estimulate or retard growth, as genetics, nutrition, local traumas, syndroms, etc, bruxism can not be considered as determinant for the achievement of proper development. This parafunction is, in fact, merely a contributor to growth and development, meaning, its absence does not restrain growth and development from happening.