The effectiveness of an occlusal disclosure sheet to diagnose sleep bruxism: A pilot study

To evaluate the utility of vacuum-pressed, BruxChecker^® sheets for the diagnosis of sleep bruxism.

Twenty subjects participated in this study. Tooth contact during sleep was recorded using a 0.1 mm-thick polyvinyl chloride sheet called BruxChecker^®. The area of the BruxChecker^® in which the red dye was removed was measured. In addition, the EMG activity of the masseter muscle during sleep was recorded. The numbers of bruxism bursts and episodes were counted, and their correlations with the peeled area of the red dye on the BruxChecker^® were evaluated.

The number of bruxism bursts and episodes/hr significantly correlated with the peeled area at all cut-off values. The peeled area significantly correlated with the number of phasic type bruxism episodes but not with tonic or mixed type bruxism episodes.

Since the BruxChecker^® peeled area reflected phasic type sleep bruxism, the sheets may be useful in sleep bruxism screening.