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Concept
Bruxism
Summary
Bruxism is excessive teeth grinding or jaw clenching. It is an oral parafunctional activity; i.e., it is unrelated to normal function such as eating or talking. Bruxism is a common behavior; reports of prevalence range from 8% to 31% in the general population. Several symptoms are commonly associated with bruxism, including aching jaw muscles, headaches, hypersensitive teeth, tooth wear, and damage to dental restorations (e.g. crowns and fillings). Symptoms may be minimal, without patient awareness of the condition. If nothing is done, after a while many teeth start wearing down until the whole tooth is gone.
There are two main types of bruxism: one occurs during sleep (nocturnal bruxism) and one during wakefulness (awake bruxism). Dental damage may be similar in both types, but the symptoms of sleep bruxism tend to be worse on waking and improve during the course of the day, and the symptoms of awake bruxism may not be present at all on waking, and then worsen over the day.
The causes of bruxism are not completely understood, but probably involve multiple factors. Awake bruxism is more common in women, whereas men and women are affected in equal proportions by sleep bruxism. Awake bruxism is thought to have different causes from sleep bruxism. Several treatments are in use, although there is little evidence of robust efficacy for any particular treatment.
There is a wide variation in reported epidemiologic data for bruxism, and this is largely due to differences in the definition, diagnosis and research methodologies of these studies. E.g. several studies use self-reported bruxism as a measure of bruxism, and since many people with bruxism are not aware of their habit, self-reported tooth grinding and clenching habits may be a poor measure of the true prevalence.
The ICSD-R states that 85–90% of the general population grind their teeth to a degree at some point during their life, although only 5% will develop a clinical condition. Some studies have reported that awake bruxism affects females more commonly than males, while in sleep bruxism, males and females are affected equally.
Official source
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