Bruxism and associated factors among Dutch adolescents

To assess the prevalence rates of self-reported sleep bruxism and awake bruxism and their associations with several demographical, exogenous, and psychosocial factors among Dutch adolescents.

In a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, 4285 questionnaires were completed, with an about equal gender distribution and with ages ranging from 10 to 22 years.

In the group of 4235 12- to 18-year-old adolescents, sleep bruxism had a reported prevalence of 14.8% and awake bruxism of 8.7%. Logistic regression analyses revealed that sleep bruxism was associated with female gender [OR = 1.49 (95% CI = 1.23-1.81)], pain or tense feeling in the jaws upon awakening in the morning [OR = 1.47 (95% CI = 1.17-1.86)], clicking joint sounds [OR = 1.31 (95% CI = 1.03-1.65)], stress [OR = 1.25 (95% CI = 1.00-1.55)], and depressive mood [OR = 1.35 (95% CI = 1.10-1.65)]. Awake bruxism was associated with orofacial pain [OR = 1.49 (95% CI = 1.16-1.91)], clicking joint sounds [OR = 1.50 (95% CI = 1.13-1.98)], scraping joint sounds [OR = 2.03 (95% CI = 1.21-3.37)], stress [OR = 1.36 (95% CI = 1.03-1.78)], depressive mood [OR = 1.82 (95% CI = 1.42-2.35)], and smoking [OR = 1.42 (95% CI = 1.06-1.89)].

Sleep bruxism and awake bruxism are common conditions among Dutch adolescents, with self-reported prevalence rates that are slightly higher than those derived from most large-scale studies on adults. Several predictor variables were found to be exclusively associated with either form of bruxism, corroborating the common suggestion that both circadian manifestations are, at least in part, different entities.