Search Results (3)

Diagnosis of bruxism is challenging because not all contractions of the masticatory muscles can be classified as bruxism. Conventional methods for sleep bruxism detection vary in effectiveness. Some provide objective data through EMG, ECG, or EEG; others, such as dental implants, are less accessible for daily practice. These methods have targeted the masseter as the key muscle for bruxism detection. However, it is important to consider that the temporalis muscle is also active during bruxism among masticatory muscles. Moreover, studies have predominantly examined sleep bruxism in the supine position, but other anatomical positions are also associated with sleep. In this research, we have collected EMG data to detect the maximum voluntary contraction of the temporalis and masseter muscles in three primary anatomical positions associated with sleep, i.e., supine and left and right lateral recumbent positions. A total of 10 time domain features were extracted, and six machine learning classifiers were compared, with random forest outperforming others. The models achieved better accuracies in the detection of sleep bruxism with the temporalis muscle. An accuracy of 93.33% was specifically found for the left lateral recumbent position among the specified anatomical positions. These results indicate a promising direction of machine learning in clinical applications, facilitating enhanced diagnosis and management of sleep bruxism. Full article

Background: Oral appliances embedding sensors can be interesting tools for monitoring tooth contact bruxism in a home environment, as they address some of the usability limitations of portable electromyography (EMG) systems. In this study, an oral appliance for sleep bruxism monitoring was compared to an electromyograph. Methods: Simulated bruxism events with tooth contact, specifically clenching and grinding, and other occlusal activities unrelated to bruxism, were measured in 23 subjects with the two instruments simultaneously. The recordings were analyzed automatically by a computer program in order to compare the two techniques. Results: The two instruments were found to be strongly correlated in terms of detecting events (r = 0.89), and estimating their duration (r = 0.88) and their intensity (r = 0.83). Conclusions: The two techniques were in agreement in measuring event frequency, duration and intensity in the studied group, suggesting that force-sensing oral appliances have the potential to be easy-to-use tools for home monitoring of bruxism, alone or as complements to portable EMGs. Full article

Intraoral devices for bite-force sensing have several applications in odontology and maxillofacial surgery, as bite-force measurements provide additional information to help understand the characteristics of bruxism disorders and can also be of help for the evaluation of post-surgical evolution and for comparison of alternative treatments. A new system for measuring human bite forces is proposed in this work. This system has future applications for the monitoring of bruxism events and as a complement for its conventional diagnosis. Bruxism is a pathology consisting of grinding or tight clenching of the upper and lower teeth, which leads to several problems such as lesions to the teeth, headaches, orofacial pain and important disorders of the temporomandibular joint. The prototype uses a magnetic field communication scheme similar to low-frequency radio frequency identification (RFID) technology (NFC). The reader generates a low-frequency magnetic field that is used as the information carrier and powers the sensor. The system is notable because it uses an intra-mouth passive sensor and an external interrogator, which remotely records and processes information regarding a patient’s dental activity. This permits a quantitative assessment of bite-force, without requiring intra-mouth batteries, and can provide supplementary information to polysomnographic recordings, current most adequate early diagnostic method, so as to initiate corrective actions before irreversible dental wear appears. In addition to describing the system’s operational principles and the manufacture of personalized prototypes, this report will also demonstrate the feasibility of the system and results from the first in vitro and in vivo trials. Full article