Association between polysomnographic parameters of sleep bruxism and attrition-type tooth wear.

BACKGROUND: Clinically, sleep bruxism is considered to be associated with the presence of tooth wear, but strong evidence is still lacking. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether an association exists between polysomnographic parameters, recorded from patients with possible sleep bruxism and tooth wear. METHODS: Sixty-three possible sleep bruxers (19 males and 44 females, mean ± SD age = 38.5 ± 11.4 years) were recruited among patients attending the Clinic for orofacial pain and dysfunction of the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA). The incisal/occlusal tooth wear was recorded for each tooth clinically, using a 5-point ordinal scale. Subsequently, all patients underwent an one-night ambulatory polysomnographic recording, during which the number of bruxism episodes per hour of sleep (Epi/h), the number of bruxism bursts per hour of sleep (Bur/h), and the bruxism time index (BTI) were recorded and analysed. Logistic regression analysis was performed using the presence of tooth wear as the dependent variable, the polysomnographic recordings as independent variables, and corrected for age and gender. The Bur/h and BTI were removed from the analyses due to collinearity with the Epi/h. Additionally, the polysomnographic recordings were also tested for possible association with self-reported grinding of the teeth during sleep. RESULTS: No significant correlation was found between tooth wear and Epi/h (P = 0.381). In addition, the presence of tooth wear was not associated with self-reported parafunctions. CONCLUSION: Clinically measured tooth wear and self-reported parafunction seem not be related to the polysomnographic parameters of possible sleep bruxism.

Widespread Pain and Central Sensitization in Adolescents with Signs of Painful Temporomandibular Disorders.

AIMS: To investigate the associations between signs of painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and number of tender points (TPs) and fibromyalgia in adolescents, as well as the relationship between TPs and pressure-pain threshold (PPT) in individuals presenting with local, regional, or widespread pain as a way to investigate the presence of central sensitization (CS). METHODS: The sample consisted of 690 Brazilian adolescents with and without signs of painful TMD, aged 12 to 14 years old. Painful TMD was classified according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (RDC/TMD) Axis I. The criteria established by Yunus were applied to assess juvenile fibromyalgia and TPs. Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests were applied to test the associations between signs of painful TMD and demographic variables. Regression models were used to estimate the association between signs of painful TMD and number of TPs and to determine which additional predictive variables were associated with TPs. Regression analyses were performed to test the associations between PPT values and number of TPs. Fisher test was used to estimate the association between signs of painful TMD and FM. RESULTS: Significant associations between signs of painful TMD and the number of TPs (P < .001), as well as between TPs and the PPT values for local, regional, and widespread pain (P < .001), were found. No association between signs of painful TMD and fibromyalgia was found (P = .158). CONCLUSION: Individuals with signs of painful TMD presented with more TPs compared to pain-free adolescents. Moreover, the higher the number of TPs, the lower the PPT. This finding suggests that adolescents with signs of painful TMD are at increased risk of presenting with CS.