A pandemia Covid-19 e o bruxismo em crianças e adolescentes: um estudo com Odontopediatras e Ortodontistas do Brasil

Abstract

Bruxism has a multifactorial etiology and its occurrence in childhood can cause imbalance between function and growth. In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined as a Pandemic the outbreak of the disease caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus. Faced with this fact, global measures were implemented to reduce the spread of the virus. Although social isolationwas one of the main measures to reduce the spread of the virus, it had a negative impact on social, economic, and mental determinants. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation was to investigate whether there was an increase in the occurrence of Bruxism during the period of the COVID 19 Pandemic in children and adolescents based on the reports of Orthodontists and Pediatric Dentists in Brazil. A cross-sectional observational study was carried out with dentists with a postgraduate degree in Pediatric Dentistry and/or Orthodontics/Functional Jaw Orthopedics registered in Brazil. Data collection for this study was carried out with the application of an online questionnaire registered on the Survey Monkey platform. A total of 375 dentists participated in this study. Most of the participants were adults aged between 25- 59 years (91%) and working in the private care sector (73.9%). Regarding the occurrence of bruxism, 84.8% of the participants reported an increase in the diagnosis of bruxism, specifically probable bruxism (63.5%). More than half of the participants (56.4%) reported an increase in parental reports of deleterious oral habits, especially nail biting (73.6%). The most reported signs and symptoms were nocturnal teeth grinding (91.4%), tooth wear (54%) and sleep disturbances (44.2%). Regarding the search for guidelines related to bruxism via social media, almost half (49%) reported an increase. The outcomes of the pandemic have a greater social and emotional effect on children than on adults, because they have less emotional, behavioral and cognitive resources. The findings of this study showed that during the period of the COVID-19 Pandemic, an increase in the diagnosis and signs and symptoms related to bruxism was observed in children and adolescents.