Validation of a new diagnostic method for quantification of sleep bruxism activity.

OBJECTIVES: To validate a new diagnostic method (DIABRUX) for quantifying sleep bruxism (SB) activity using the current gold standard, polysomnography (PSG), as a criterion in an adequate sample size investigation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For SB diagnosis, each participant received a two-night ambulatory PSG including audio-video recordings. The 0.5-mm-thick sheet is produced in a thermoforming process. After diagnosis via PSG, each subject wore the diagnostic sheet for five consecutive nights. The resulting total abrasion on the surface was automatically quantified in pixels by a software specially designed for this purpose. RESULTS: Forty-five participants (10 SB and 35 non-SB subjects) were included. The difference of the mean pixel score between the SB (M = 1,306, SD = 913) and the non-SB group (M = 381, SD = 483; 3.4 times higher for SB) was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed a value of 507 pixels as the most appropriate cut-off criterion with a sensitivity of 1.0, a specificity to 0.8, and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.88. The positive and negative predictive value accounted for 0.59 and 1.0. CONCLUSIONS: The present data confirm that the new diagnostic method is valid and user-friendly that may be used for therapeutic evaluation, and for the acquisition of larger sample sizes within sophisticated study designs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The verified properties of the new diagnostic method allow estimating SB activity before damages occur due to long-standing bruxism activity. Therefore, it might be utilized for preventive dentistry. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NC T03325920 (September 22, 2017).

A new analyzing method for quantification of abrasion on the Bruxcore device for sleep bruxism diagnosis.

AIMS: To evaluate a newly developed semi-automatic computer-based method to analyze the objectivity of the Bruxcore Bruxism-Monitoring Device (BBMD) by assessing the interrater reliability. The capability of the BBMD to differentiate between sleep bruxers (SB) and healthy controls was also verified by estimating the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. METHODS: Forty-eight SB and 21 controls took part in this investigation. After a detailed clinical dental examination, each participant received a BBMD to be worn for 5 consecutive nights. The BBMDs were then scanned and rated by 2 independent examiners using the new method, which counted the abraded area in pixels. Interrater reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses. RESULTS: The analyses showed a very high interrater reliability of ICC = 0.99, and comparison of the mean pixel scores revealed values that were approximately 8 times higher for the SB than for the controls. With a selected pixel score cutoff point of 2900, a sensitivity of 79.2% and a specificity of 95.2% were found. The clinical diagnosis was correctly predicted in 97.4% of the SB and 66.7% of the controls. CONCLUSION: The results support the assumption that the newly developed analyzing method for the assessment of the BBMD is a clinically suitable, objective, and applicable method that seems to be able to differentiate between SB and a healthy control sample. These data, however, need to be confirmed in further investigations using polysomnographic recordings.