The effects of severe bruxism on sleep architecture: a preliminary report

Analysis of sleep in 5 severe bruxists revealed consistent sleep abnormalities. These abnormalities consisted of decreased REM latency (90%), decreased percentage of REM sleep (85%), and increased number of sleep stage transitions (75%). This sleep pattern suggests that bruxing can have a deleterious effect on sleep in otherwise healthy individuals. This effect on sleep can in the long run lead to difficulty in daytime functioning similar to the effects of sleep apnea or nocturnal myoclonus. These data also reveal a significant first night effect, hence future attempts at replicating and expanding these findings should take that into consideration. The small number of subjects studied, the lack of a standardized assessment of their daytime functioning, the lack of information regarding the degree of teethware and daytime bruxing activity limit the generalizability of our findings. A controlled study with a larger sample size can help further delineate the nature of such sleep changes as well as their impact on the patient's overall functioning.