Objective: To examine the effect of electromyography biofeedback on decreasing the frequency of clenching in patients with bruxism.

Background: Bruxism is a neurological movement disorder characterized by hyperactivity of the masticatory muscles. This hyperactivity marked by clenching of the teeth [1]. Bruxism is considered to be centrally regulated by the Nervous system including the central pattern generator in the brain steam and the extra pyramidal system [2].This hyperactivity of the masticatory muscles considered to be an extrapyramidal system disorder due to the imbalance that occurs in the “nigrostriatal projection” feedback loop within the Basel ganglia in absence of degeneration as in the case of the degeneration the Parkinson’s will occurs [3,4,5].The most frequently used interventions for those patients are based on the use of dental appliances to prevent tooth wear that are poorly tolerated by the patients and the patient return to the clenching once he took it off, Or pharmacotherapy medications with a temporally effect that treat the symptoms  without targeting the underlying pathophysiology. Also some cases report complications of those medications.

Method: 20 adult subjects with definite bruxism referred from a dentist; their ages ranged from 20-25 years participated in this study. The subjects have been divided equally in to two groups: group A (followed an electromyography biofeedback training session for one month with a frequency of 3 sessions/ week in addition to pain killers which prescribed by the dentist). and group B (Followed the standard medical treatment (Pain Killers) only). The Following assessment was made to assess the frequency of clenching by using the” BRUX-Scale” [6] pre-and post- the treatment.

Results: The statistical results confirmed that the frequency of clenching in group (A) significant improved from mean (2.4) to (0.7) were (P=0.0009).While in group (B) the pre- and post- mean was (2) and (1.9) respectively were (P= 0.7771) which confirmed that there wasn’t a significant decrease in the frequency of clenching.

Conclusion: The electromyography biofeedback has been proved to be an effective, long lasting approach that decreased the frequency of clenching. It’s a ‘‘sensory trick’’ that made the patient recognize the clenching as many patients believed that their muscles at the resting state until they saw the high amplitude in the display.

References: 1. Kryger, M. H., Roth, T., & Dement, W. C. (2017). Principles and practice of sleep medicine. Chapter144. p.1423 .2. Okeson, J. P. (2014). Management of temporomandibular disorders and occlusion-E-book. Elsevier Health Sciences. 3. Schärer, P. (1974). Bruxism. In Physiology of Mastication (Vol. 1, pp. 293-322). Karger Publishers.4. Nishioka, G. J., & Montgomery, M. T. (1988). 5. Masticatory muscle hyperactivity in temporomandibular disorders: is it an extrapyramidaly expressed disorder? The Journal of the American Dental Association, 116(4), 514-520.6. Kryger, M. H., Roth, T., & Dement, W. C. (2017). Principles and practice of sleep medicine, Chapter145, page1428

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-electromyography-biofeedback-on-the-frequency-of-clenching-on-patients-with-bruxism/