Bruxism Awake bruxism is sometimes abbreviated to AB, and is also termed "diurnal bruxism", DB, or "daytime bruxing". Sleep bruxism is sometimes abbreviated to SB, and is also termed "sleep-related bruxism", "nocturnal bruxism", or "nocturnal tooth grinding". According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders revised edition (ICSD-R), the term "sleep bruxism" is the most appropriate since this type occurs during sleep specifically rather than being associated with a particular time of day, i.e., if a person with sleep bruxism were to sleep during the day and stay awake at night then the condition would not occur during the night but
Bruxism often initially deny clenching and grinding because they are unaware of the habit. Often, the person may re-attend soon after the first visit and report that they have now become aware of such a habit. Several devices have been developed that aim to objectively measure bruxism activity, either in terms of muscular activity or bite forces. They have been criticized for introducing a possible change in the bruxing habit, whether increasing or decreasing it, and are therefore poorly representative to the native bruxing activity. These are mostly of relevance to research, and are rarely used in the routine clinical diagnosis