Diagnosis of sleep bruxism can assist in the detection of cases of verbal school bullying and measure the life satisfaction of adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Adolescence is a period with changes and conflicts.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between sleep bruxism, verbal bullying at school, and life satisfaction among Brazilian adolescents.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 1344 Brazilian adolescents was performed. Possible sleep bruxism was identified using the consensus criteria based on the reports of parents. The parents and the adolescents answered validated questionnaires. The data were statistically analyzed using the chi-squared test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Poisson regression with robust variance.


RESULTS
A total of 205 adolescents presented possible sleep bruxism (15.3%). This parafunction was more prevalent among adolescents who were victims of verbal bullying at school (PR: 6.31; 95% CI: 4.78-8.32), victim/perpetrators (PR: 5.27; 95% CI: 3.82-7.27), and who belonged to families from a higher socioeconomic status (RP: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.23-1.86). Possible sleep bruxism was also associated with higher scores in the domains of self (PR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00-1.08), school (PR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.02-1.09) and self-efficacy (PR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.03-1.12), and lower scores in the non-violence domain (PR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93-0.99).


CONCLUSIONS
Possible sleep bruxism can assist in the detection of adolescents involved in school bullying at school in the roles of victim and victim/perpetrator.
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Livia Bonfim
LB
Fulgencio
School of Dentistry, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
Patrícia
P
Corrêa-Faria
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Carolina Freitas
CF
Lage
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Saul Martins
SM
Paiva
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Isabela Almeida
IA
Pordeus
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Junia Maria
JM
Serra-Negra
D000293:Adolescent; D058445:Bullying; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D020186:Sleep Bruxism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors