[Nocturnal bruxism. Contributions to the detection and assessment of involvement in the craniomandibular pain dysfunction syndrome].

The authors review the most updated information concerning the etiopathogenesis of nocturnal bruxism, stressing the co. destructive role of psychosomatic factors and of traumatogenic ones, of the type of premature dental contacts, and of occluding interferences, with evident direct implications in the buccal cavity and at a distance, giving rise to hypnic masticatory automatism, with painful hypercontraction of the masticatory muscles, and stress exerted on the temporomandibular articulations. On the basis of original studies of the interdisciplinary type (prosthetic gnathology and neurophysiology), with the aid of polygraphic investigations during sleep carried out in subjects with nocturnal bruxism it was possible to demonstrate that this oral parafunction may determine sleep disturbances at a central level which makes necessary a complex stomatologic and neuropsychiatric medical therapy.