Bruxism and Associated Factors Among Israeli Children

Objectives: The aims of our study were to determine the prevalence of self-reported sleep bruxism in Israeli children ages 6-13, and the possibility of relation between the occurrence of bruxism in this age group in Israel and the possible causative factors such as stress, parafunctional activity, attention deficit and Ritalin medication.
Methods: The survey included 424 children of three main social groups (Religious jewish, non-religious jewish and arab) in primary schools in central Israel. The survey was performed using self-report questionnaires the children filled with the help of their parents, and was approved by the Principal Investigator of the Ministry of Education. This work is a part of an international study which includes Holland, Palestinian Authority and another similar survey performed on Israeli adolescents.
Results: Our study found sleep bruxism in 19.4% of the Israeli children of the studied age-group.
There was no significant relation between sleep bruxism and any of the possible causative or facilitating factors we studied. The only statistically significant difference (p=0.005) was found in the BMI measures between the bruxing and non-bruxing group, the latter having a higher mean BMI measure by one point .
Conclusions: The prevalence we found was consistent with previously reported in the literature.
No statistical relation was found between sleep bruxism of the 6-13 age group and stress, parafunctional activity, attention deficit and Ritalin medication.
Children reporting to be sleep bruxers had a higher mean BMI measure than non-bruxers, with statistical significance.