[Role of noise as stress--factor in parafunctions]

The purpose of this paper was to show how relevant was the chronic professional exposure to noise in the occurrence of parafunctions of the stomatognathic region in textile workers. All investigations were carried out on a sample of 72 textile workers (males and females), who worked in high noise conditions. It was found that the level of noise ranged from 99 to 105 decibels, with some extreme values to 130 decibels. In addition to family history, an interview was carried out with each worker about his her individual noise--sensitivity to bruxism. A correlation was found between the noise level and parafunctions. The obtained result showed that the frequency of parafunction was 30.5% higher in workers working in high-noise environment.