Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Bruxism
New research presented at CHEST 2009 found that nearly 1 in 4 patients with obstructive sleep apnea (mostly Caucasian men) suffers from nighttime teeth grinding. Eight percent of the general US population suffers from bruxism. “The relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and sleep bruxism is usually related to an arousal response. The ending of an apneic event may be accompanied by a number of mouth phenomena, such as snoring, gasps, mumbles, and teeth grinding,” said Shyam Subramanian, MD, FCCP, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. “Men typically have more severe sleep apnea, and perhaps may have more arousal responses, which may explain the higher prevalence of teeth grinding in men. Besides, men characteristically tend to report more symptoms of sleep apnea than women, such as snoring, loud grunting, and witnessed apneas.” Anxiety and caffeine use also help explain the relationship … Read more