Influence of nocturnal bruxism on the stomatognathic system. Part I: a new device for measuring mandibular movements during sleep

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of bruxism on the stomatognathic system. A new device for measuring nocturnal mandibular movements was developed using a PIN photodiode sensor, integrated with polysomnography including electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG) and electro oculography (EOG). One bruxing event was defined depending upon EMG activities above 5% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), and mandibular movement for each event was classified into three patterns (clenching, grinding and mix). Three subjects were selected for this study. Two of these reported a bruxing habit and one subject had some symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). Mandibular movement was analysed for these subjects. Frequency and duration of the bruxism events were 4·5–10·9 and 47·8–174·9 s h–1respectively. Clenching type bruxism was most frequently observed for all three subjects and EMG activities during clenching were stronger than grinding.