Steep bruxism and temporomandibular disorder: Clinical and polysornnographic evaluation

Objective: To seek better understanding of chronic musculoskeletal facial pain and its relation to steep bruxism, by comparing patients with steep bruxism, with and without temporomandibular disorder. Design: Forty steep bruxism patients were evaluated according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibutar Disorders: group A-20 patients with myofascial pain, 3 men, 17 women; average age 32.7 yr; mean duration of pain 4.37 yr; group B-20 without myofascial pain, 5 men, 15 women; average age 30.8 yr. Steep and bruxism were evaluated in one-night potysomnography. Results: There were no statistically significant differences for bruxism and steep variables of the two groups: number of bursts and bruxism episodes per hour, amplitude and duration of bruxism episodes, steep efficiency and Latency, percentage of non-REM and REM steep, respiratory events, periodic limb movements, and microarousals.