Decreased amount of slow wave sleep in nocturnal bruxism is not improved by dental splint therapy

Objective : To test the efficacy of dental treatment of bruxism on sleep qu ality, using slow wave sleep as the primary outcome parameter. Methods: The study design consisted of an open label, unpaired comparison b etween normal's and patients and a paired comparison between pre- and post- treatment patient recordings. Twenty patients suffering from bruxism (13 ma le, 7 female, mean age 35 years) and 6 normal volunteers (3 male, 3 female, mean age 30 years) participated in the study: Polysomnographic recordings were performed in a sleep laboratory in a general hospital both before and after treatment. The treatment was derived from a model that ascribes bruxi sm to a dental malocclusion, and consisted solely of dental therapy (Jeanmo nod 1988). Results: The untreated bruxism group had worse sleep than normals when comp aring slow wave sleep (21% versus 32% slow wave sleep percentage in sleep p eriod time) during the second polysomnographic recording; after one night a daptation. Therapy did not improve sleep quality; bruxism patients showed o nly minor, non-significant differences in sleep quality when comparing pre- and post-treatment recordings.