Bruxism Bruxism Bruxism is excessive teeth grinding or jaw clenching. It is an oral parafunctional activity; i.e., it is unrelated to normal function such as eating or talking. Bruxism is a common behavior; reports of prevalence range from 8–31% in the general population. Several symptoms are commonly associated with bruxism, including hypersensitive teeth, aching jaw muscles, headaches, tooth wear, and damage to dental restorations (e.g. crowns and fillings) to teeth. But symptoms may be minimal, without patient awareness of the condition. There are two main types of bruxism: one occurs during sleep (nocturnal bruxism) and one during wakefulness (awake bruxism). Dental
Bruxism aim of improving health. Although the evidence of biofeedback has not been tested for awake bruxism, there is recent evidence for the efficacy of biofeedback in the management of nocturnal bruxism in small control groups. Electromyographic monitoring devices of the associated muscle groups tied with automatic alerting during periods of clenching and grinding have been prescribed for awake bruxism. Dental appliances with capsules that break and release a taste stimulus when enough force is applied have also been described in sleep bruxism, which would wake the person from sleep in an attempt to prevent bruxism episodes. "Large scale, double-blind, experiment