title: Sleep bruxism, an autonomic self-regulating response by triggering the trigeminal cardiac reflex.
abstract: Sleep bruxism, an intensified manifestation of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity, characterized by tooth grinding or clenching during sleep, lacks a definitive physiological purpose. This paper posits that physiologically, sleep bruxism is an autonomic self-regulatory response to nighttime occurrences of tachycardia stemming from the brain experiencing microarousals during sleep. Sleep bruxism by triggering the trigeminal cardiac reflex leads to bradycardia. Rhythmic masticatory muscle activity-sleep bruxism, thereby, serves to slow the heart rate when brain microarousals cause tachycardia.
authors.affiliation: Craniofacial Pain/TMJ Clinic, White Memorial Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schames
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schames
authors.forename: Mayer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schames
authors.forename: Susan S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chagall-Gungur
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000503:physiopathology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D001919:Bradycardia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D059230:Reflex, Trigeminocardiac / Q000502:physiology*; D020921:Sleep Arousal Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D020186:Sleep Bruxism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology