title: Clenching occurring during the day is influenced by psychological factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the relationship between clenching occurring during the day under natural conditions and psychological attributes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 37 dentistry students and staff (14 women, 23 men; mean age 27.4±4.7 years). A portable EMG recording device was used to record muscle activity in the temporal muscles for a continuous 5-h period under subjects' natural conditions, including having lunch. Clenching was identified by electromyography, and subjects were categorized into clenching and non-clenching groups. Psychological testing was performed during the same period using the Modified Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS), the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), and the psychological attributes of clenching and non-clenching groups were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 37 subjects, 23 were assigned to the clenching group and 14 to the non-clenching group. Thirteen of the 23 subjects of the clenching group and none of the 14 subjects of the non-clenching group were determined to have psychological problems according to the MAS, with a significant difference observed between the clenching and non-clenching groups in terms of anxious tendency (p<0.001; Fisher's exact test). Total muscle activity in the clenching group, excluding eating and talking, was 3.5 times greater compared with the non-clenching group, and a significant difference between the groups was observed (p<0.05; Mann-Whitney U-test).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Daytime clenching was shown to be associated with anxious tendency. Total muscle activity in the clenching group was 3.5 times greater compared with the non-clenching group.
authors.affiliation: Division of Fixed Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Iwate Medical University, 1-3-27 Chuodori, Morioka, Iwate 020-8505, Japan. hendou@iwate-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanemura
authors.forename: Norimasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takebe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002012:Bruxism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013703:Temporal Muscle / Q000503:physiopathology