Association between bruxism and sleep quality in military police

Abstract

Bruxism is a parafunction the stomatognathic system, multifactorial etiology and high prevalence, with negative consequences for oral health. Emotional stress is regarded as the main trigger factor of bruxism.

Objective: To evaluate the association between bruxism and sleep quality, as well as the association between dental covariables (excessive dental wear, malocclusion and tooth loss) and sleep quality among a group of military police officers of the Military Brigade.

Methodology: Clinical study with a transitional observational design.

Results: The prevalence of bruxism and clinical quality of poor sleep were 47.8% and 52.2%, respectively. The bivariate regression models demonstrated that the presence of excessive tooth wear (p=0.83), malocclusion (p=0.54), tooth loss (p=0.45), self-reported bruxism (p=0.09) and clinical bruxism (p=0.83) were not associated with the quality of sleep among participants. Among all dental covariates analyzed, only brushing frequency <2x/day (OR=2.00; 95% CI=1.32 to 3.04) was associated with worse quality of sleep (p=0.001). A significant correlation between self-reported and clinician bruxism (p=0.004; r=0.58) was observed.

Conclusion: The clinical bruxism was not associated with sleep quality, and individuals who had self-reported bruxism showed a trend - though not statistically significant - to present a poorer quality of sleep.