Customized Appliance Device for Force Detection in Bruxism Individuals: An Observational Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to test a customised device for detecting contact-related sleep bruxism in adult patients and to show the efficacy of an established biofeedback method incorporated within the device. METHODS: Four volunteers, three of whom suffered from bruxism and one did not, underwent four tests to assess bruxism-related force detection during sleep with concurrent electromyographic recording and to compare SB activity with and without biofeedback stimuli. RESULTS: The device detected sleep bruxism in bruxer individuals, whilst no activity emerged in the control individual. A correlation between EMG and device signals for bruxism-related events emerged. Moreover, bruxism activity showed a significant decrease on the nights when the biofeedback treatment was applied. CONCLUSION: The force-based device can detect appliance-contacting SB events as reliably as EMG recording. Finally, biofeedback stimuli allowed achieving a reduction in the severity and frequency of SB events.