Bruxism

An important development in understanding bruxism was the appreciation that stress played a major role. Rugh and Solberg (1976) were the first to notice that as stress increased, bruxism also increased in intensity. A number of other workers have subsequently investigated the role of cognitive behavioural factors, such as stress, anxiety, and personality, in the aetiology of bruxism. They have concluded that patients diagnosed with bruxism have an anxious personality and a considerable drive to reach their personal goals, when compared with the rest of the population. These features are seen in the patient presented in this case report. Lavigne et al. (2003) suggested that nocturnal bruxism is related to anxiety, and is a secondary aspect of excitation when sleeping. Sleep excitation is defined as a transitory growth in the electrical activity of the brain and heart. These symptoms are followed by tooth grinding. In 2005, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine proposed an International Classification of Sleep Disorders and defined nocturnal bruxism as a disorder of the stereotypical movements while sleeping, characterised by teeth grinding and/or their clenching. According to this classification, nocturnal bruxism is a sleep disorder, included in the parasomnias category.

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Last date updated on April, 2024