A preliminary study on the treatment of bruxism by biofeedback therapy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of wireless biofeed-back therapy on bruxism. Methods: Fifteen bruxiers participated to be treated by this therapy. The ab-normal movements of teeth during sleep were moni-tored by a maxillary splint with an electric resistance strain gauge. Meanwhile, the receiver device recorded these details and analyzed the data, including the val-ue of the biting force, occurring time and duration. If the value of biting force or duration exceeds the thre-shold, a vibrating device like a watch style will alert the patient to relax the masticatory muscles and nerv-ous system to stop the abnormal grinding or clench-ing. Data were recorded during 8 hours' sleep and analyzed after the 12 weeks' treatment and 24 weeks' treatment. Results: The average episodes of bruxism have declined from (10.60 ± 1.23) to (6.60 ± 0.75) after 12 weeks' treatment (p < 0.05), and the average dura-tion of bruxism events was reduced from (13.2 ± 0.74) s to (6.50 ± 0.40) s (p < 0.05). The average episodes of bruxism have declined to (3.80 ± 0.64) after 24 weeks' treatment, and the average duration of bruxism events was reduced to (3.37 ± 0.34) s (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results suggest that biofeedback therapy can be effective for bruxism treatment.