Relationship between malocclusion and bruxism in children and adolescents: a review

A review of the literature on the relationship between malocclusion and bruxism is presented. Statistically significant correlations were found between different types of morphologic malocclusion such as Class II and III molar relationship, deep bite, overjet, and dental wear or grinding. The types of functional malocclusion correlated with dental wear or bruxofacets were mediotrusion interferences, anterior-posterior and vertical distance between retruded position and intercuspal position, lateral shift of the mandible together with nonfunctional side interferences. However, all studies that reported significant correlations were cross-sectional, which implies that the relationship between malocclusion and bruxism was investigated at a certain point of time. The results were not confirmed by the two longitudinal studies. Besides, the correlations were found in different age groups. Finally, the reported correlations cannot have biological significance since the biological plausibility of the causal hypothesis cannot be inferred. On the basis of this study, malocclusion does not increase the probability of bruxism, and therefore early treatment of occlusal conditions to prevent bruxism is not scientifically justified.