StomatologyEduJ 5(1) SEJ_5_1 | Page 33

MANIFESTATION OF SLEEP BRUXISM ACCORDING TO THE AGE OF PATIENTS
Dumitru Romaniuc 1a* ,Valeriu Fala 1b , Victor Lacusta 2c , Gheorghe Bordeniuc 1a , Paula Fala 3d
Department of Therapeutic Dentistry, „Nicolae Testemiţanu” State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chişinău, Republic of Moldova
Department of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, „Nicolae Testemiţanu” State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chişinău, Republic of Moldova
3
Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Chişinău, Republic of Moldova
1
2
PhD Fellow
DDS, PhD, MSc, Assoc. Prof.
c
PhD, Univ. Prof., Academician
d
Neurology resident
a
b
ABSTRACT
DOI: 10.25241/stomaeduj.2018.5(1).art.3
Introduction: Bruxism is a widespread condition, affecting up to 85-90% of the general
population, and in 5% of these individuals, the grinding evolves into a clinical condition.
In many cases, sleep bruxism is latent, the disorder may be identified by its consequences
(dental wear, etc.). This ascertains the need to develop diagnostic methods that may be able
to identify bruxism at the initial stages of the disorder.
Aim of the study: to determine the peculiarities of the clinical manifestation of primary
sleep bruxism (SB) based on the age of the patients.
Methodology: One hundred patients with primary SB (70 patients aged between 18-
35 and 30 patients aged between 35-50) were investigated. The clinical features of
SB (algic syndrome, myogenic disorders, temporomandibular disorders, dental wear,
psychoemotional disorders, sleep quality alterations) were also investigated.
Results: The expression of emotional stress in patients of various ages was almost identical.
The highest clenching frequency and duration, as well as a higher clinical expression of
sleep bruxism was observed in patients under 35. The components of the algic syndrome
show a varied expression for different age groups – patients under 35 had more severe
disorders of the nocturnal episodes and myogenic-spastic events; older patients (35-50)
were characterized by a prevalence of local and diffuse myogenic structural disorders,
arthrogenic pain and severe sleep disturbances.
Conclusion: Electromyography and ultrasonography can reveal important morpho-
functional peculiarities of the masticatory muscles that are associated with the severity of
SB in patients from different age groups.
Keywords: bruxism, electromyography, ultrasonography, temporomandibular disorders, diagnostics.
1. Introduction
Bruxism is a parafunctional activity, characterized
by repetitive jaw-muscle clenches, tooth grinding,
bracing/thrusting of the jaw, occurring either during
sleep (SB – sleep bruxism) or during wakefu lness (AB –
awake bruxism) [1]. Bruxism is a widespread condition
– around 85-90% of the general population grinds their
teeth in certain periods of their life, and in 5% of these
people, the grinding evolves into a clinical condition
[2,3]. The prevalence of bruxism varies greatly from 5%
to 96%, which highlights that a varied range of criteria
and methods for diagnosing this condition are being
used [5,6]. An important aspect to this problem is the
age of the patients. The highest frequency of bruxism is
observed in the age group between 19-44, without any
essential gender- based differences [7]. Bruxism may
be observed in children starting approximately from
the age of one [8] and it occurs in 7-15% of cases [9].
The condition has its onset during childhood in 6.4% of
cases, during school years in 2.5% of cases and during
the period of professional activity in 26.8% of cases [10].
The prevalence of bruxism in children varies from 6.5%
to 28% in various countries [11,12]. The authors, based
on the analysis of various scientific literature data, have
established a linear trend of decrease in the prevalence
of bruxism in relation to age: 19% at the age of 3-10,
Stomatology Edu Journal
OPEN ACCESS This is an
Open Access article under the CC
BY-NC 4.0 license.
Peer-Reviewed Article
Citation: Romaniuc D, Fala V, Lăcustă
V, Bordeniuc G, Fala P. Manifestation of
sleep bruxism according to the age of
patients. Stoma Edu J. 2018;5(1):31-37.
Academic Editor: Sever Toma Popa,
DDS, PhD, Professor, “Iuliu Hațieganu”
University of Medicine and Pharmacy,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Received: November 22, 2017
Revised: January 23, 2018
Acccepted: February 26, 2018
Published: March 01, 2018
*Corresponding author: Dumitru
Romaniuc, PhD fellow, Department of
Therapeutic Dentistry, State University
of Medicine and Pharmacy „Nicolae
Testemitanu”, 165, blvd. Stefan cel Mare,
Chisinau, MD-2004, Republic of Moldova
Tel.: [phone], Fax: 00373-
22-270536, e-mail: dima.romaniuc@
icloud.com
OROFACIAL PAIN
Copyright: © 2018 the Editorial Coun-
cil for the Stomatology Edu Journal.
13% in adolescents and youngsters, 3% in adults after
the age of 60 [11]. Some researchers consider that
bruxism first identified in childhood may continue to
persist with aging [13], others have established that
bruxism diminishes and disappears during adulthood
[14]. The incidence of bruxism in 18-29 year-olds is
18.9% – awake bruxism in 10.4% of cases, sleep bruxism
in 2.4% of cases and mixed bruxism in 6.1% of cases.
It has been established that patients aged between
20-29 show signs of bruxism most frequently (41.8%)
[15]. An analysis of 2,000 people showed that bruxism
is present in 18-year-olds in 13% of cases, and after
65 years of age in only 3% at an approximately equal
frequency in men and women [16]. After the age of 65,
the prevalence of bruxism is about 10% with a dramatic
decrease with aging. The prevalence of bruxism in
individuals aged between 35-44 is twice as high as the
prevalence in 18-year-olds, respectively 4.12 ± 0.79%
vs. 2.73 ± 0.65%. Currently, there are no specific factors
that are deemed responsible for the etiology of bruxism
[4]. It is being assumed that one of the causes of the
higher prevalence of night bruxism in young people
is the presence of a higher level of anxiety and stress
[11]. With aging, the microstructure of the masticatory
muscles essentially changes; signs of osteoporosis that
are associated with the changes in the masticatory
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