Correlation Between Stress and Abrasion on a Bruxcore Device

Objectives: Stress related factors are discussed to be a potential factor in the development of sleep bruxism (SB) activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether stress related factors, measured by three established stress questionnaires (SVF-78, KFB, EBF), correlate with SB, visualised as abrasion on a bruxcore device. Methods: 48 SB-patients and 21 control subjects completed the questionnaires assessing different stress factors and coping strategies. For the measurement of SB-activity, each participant received the Bruxcore Bruxism-Monitoring Device [(BBMD), Bruxcore, Boston, MA, USA] to be worn for five consecutive nights. The BBMD is a 0.5-mm-thick diagnostic plate consisting of four layers of different colors and a halftone dot screen on the surface. The analysis of the digitally photographed devices was performed by two investigators using a newly developed computer-based analyzing method. Based on the analysis of exposed color layers an abrasion score was built and correlated with the psychometric data. Results: Significant correlations were found between the abrasion score and the measured stress factors. The factors included ″escape″ (r = 0.295) of the SVF, ″fatigue″ (r = 0.288) and ″physical trouble″ (r = 0.288) of the EBF, as well as the factors ″trouble on work″ (r = 0.293) (all p < 0.05), ″daily problems″ (r = 0.461) and the ″total score″ (r = 0.348) of the KFB (both P < 0.01). Conclusion: It is concluded that people with high SB-activity tend to feel more stressed at work as well as in their daily life. It might be assumed that these stressors could influence their physical state. However, this data needs to be interpreted with caution due to the fact that all described correlation-coefficients showed significant but only low to moderate correlations. Supported in part by grants from the German Research Foundation (839/6-1 and 6-2).