An interesting article titled “Neural Correlates of Tooth Clenching in Patients with Bruxism and Temporomandibular Disorder–Related Pain,” written by Theo J. M. Kluskens and et. al. appears in the Journal of Oral & Facial Pain and Headache (volume 37, Issue 2, Spring 2023, Pages 139–148). The authors sought to measure brain activity in patients with teeth grinding and jaw pain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether differences when compared to those without had differennces in pain and/or neural activity.
The researchers explored brain activity in 40 patients, 21 of those that bruxism and TMD pain and the remaining 19 patients were controls. The patients were asked to do a tooth-clenching task while they were having their brain scanned in a 3T MRI scanner. Patients had to mildly or strongly clench their teeth for 12 seconds and were asked to rate their clenching intensity and pain experience after clenching.
The researchers used fMRI to measure brain activity in patients who were healthy and those with bruxism (teeth grinding) and those with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) pain. Patients with bruxism and TMD pain showed an increased activity in brain areas that were correlated with pain intenstiy including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the insula. Patients with bruxism and TMD-related pain reported more pain during strong clenching compared to mild clenching. The authors found no significant difference in activity in motor-related areas. Thus the neural correlates of tooth clenching in patients with bruxism and TMD-related pain are more strongly associated with pain processing than for motoric differences.
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The results show bruxism is a chronic pain condition that is associated with increased activity in brain areas involved in pain processing. Therefore it seems reasonable that those with bruxism may benefit from treatments that target pain including cognitive-behavioral therapy or biofeedback. The study showed that brain activity in patients with bruxism and TMD pain is more strongly associated with pain processing in those with motoric differences. The authors noted that the findings of their study showed different results than previous simiar studies that have been conducted.