Bruxism movements that occur with seizure disorders (e.g. epilepsy). This usually involves a dental examination, and possibly electroencephalography if a seizure disorder is suspected. Polysomnography shows increased masseter and temporalis muscular activity during sleep. Polysomnography may involve electroencephalography, electromyography, electrocardiography, air flow monitoring and audio–video recording. It may be useful to help exclude other sleep disorders; however, due to the expense of the use of a sleep lab, polysomnography is mostly of relevance to research rather than routine clinical diagnosis of bruxism. Tooth wear may be brought to the person's attention during routine dental examination. With awake bruxism, most people will
Bruxism grinding. The cause of bruxism is largely unknown, but it is generally accepted to have multiple possible causes. Bruxism is a parafunctional activity, but it is debated whether this represents a subconscious habit or is entirely involuntary. The relative importance of the various identified possible causative factors is also debated. Awake bruxism is thought to be usually semivoluntary, and often associated with stress caused by family responsibilities or work pressures. Some suggest that in children, bruxism may occasionally represent a response to earache or teething. Awake bruxism usually involves clenching (sometimes the term "awake clenching" is used instead of awake