Association Between Clinical Signs Bruxism, Anxiety and Masseteric Electromyographic Activity using the Bite Strip® Device in Adolescents in the Last Year of High School

Daniela Vicuña I.; María Eugenia Id A. & Rodrigo Oyonarte W.

Summary

Bruxism is a parafunction of masticatory system. The prevalence depends of the diagnosis method, between a 6 and 90 %. Diagnosis gold standard is polysomnography with an electromyographic study, that results umconfortable and expensive to the patient. BiteStrip® is an exact, economical device for single use to diagnose bruxism. It detects the existence and the intensity of bruxism, and can be used by the patient at home. It has to be applied on the cheek over the masseter muscle. Any bruxism interval will be counted internally and recorded by the BiteStrip. The result represents the area of the recorded intervals and is shown by a permanent electrochemical display. Some studies have show association between bruxism, stress and anxiety, but others do not demonstrate this association. Because of that the objective of this study is to determinate if association between the presence of bruxism signs and anxiety in high school students exists, along with determining BiteStrip® diagnosis utility. A sample of 20 last year high school students of a particular school located in Las Condes, Santiago, Chile was used. To determine anxiety we used a quiz, for attrition we used a model analysis and a interoclusal device to quantify bruxism activity. BiteStrip® was used to determine bruxism intensity in students who present more bruxism activity. We did not find statistically significant association between anxiety and bruxism signs. In conclusion based on the methodology used there was no association between anxiety and signs of bruxism. The BiteStrip is a complementary diagnostic element simple, convenient, useful and reliable for bruxism, however, suggests further studies. KEY WORDS: bruxism, sleep bruxism, bruxism diagnosis, attrition, anxiety, electromyography.

How to cite this article

VICUÑA, I. M.; ID, A. M. E. & OYONARTE, W. R. Association between clinical signs bruxism, anxiety and masseteric electromyographic activity using the Bite Strip® device in adolescents in the last year of high school. Int. J. Odontostomat., 4(3):245-253, 2010.