title: Association between bruxism and nocturnal groaning.
abstract: Bruxism is a well-known sleep-related movement disorder, usually associated with teeth damage and morning temporo-mandibular discomfort. Nocturnal groaning (NG) is a less common entity consisting of a nocturnal monotonous sound, which occurs during the expiratory phase, especially during REM sleep, recently classified among parasomnias. We describe the first case of an association between bruxism and NG. According to the polysomnographic findings, bruxism and NG episodes were closely related to each other and seemed to be organized in stereotyped sequences. Both phenomena always occurred during NREM sleep and were synchronous with cortical arousals, leg movements, and sympathetic activations. The hypothesis of a common trigger mechanism for NG and bruxism, through an arousal-induced activation, is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Center of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neurology, Scientific Institute of San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. manconi.mauro@hsr.it
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manconi
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zucconi
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carrot
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oldani
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferini-Strambi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020447:Parasomnias / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010699:Phonation; D017286:Polysomnography; D020186:Sleep Bruxism / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012894:Sleep Stages; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior