The effect of physical activity level and sleep habits on bruxism in children

This study aims to determine the causes of bruxism in children, risk factors, physical activity, sleep habits, and the effect of oral habits on bruxism, to measure the effectiveness of the education and exercise program, and to establish preventive treatment approaches in children. The study evaluated 82 children between 6 and 13 years old who applied to the Pedodontics and were diagnosed with bruxism at Cukurova University Faculty of Dentistry. Out of 82 children, 37 children who agreed to participate in the training group and their parents were included in the training and exercise program. This program included training on physical activity, sleep hygiene, sleep and oral habits, and exercises related to the jaw, head, and neck regions. Children were evaluated before and after 8 weeks of education and exercise program. The presence of pain severity, temporomandibular joint and cervical range of motion, sleep and awake bruxism were evaluated. Physical activity levels were evaluated with the Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ), sleep habits were evaluated by the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and oral habits were evaluated by the Oral Habits Questionnaire (OHQ). As a result of the evaluations, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, masticatory muscle pain, headache, and unilateral chewing were prevalent. After the education and exercise program, decreased pain severity and increased temporomandibular and cervical range of motion were statistically significant (p<0.05). After the program, a decrease in sleep and awake bruxism was statistically significant (p<0.05). While physical activity level and sleep habits were not found to be effective on bruxism (p>0.05), oral habits were found to be effective on bruxism (p<0.05). After the training and exercise program, it was determined that from the sleep habits, bedtime resistance and sleep duration values changed positively. (p<0.05). It was found that the oral habits of children changed positively after training and exercise programs (p<0.05). As a result, the education and exercise program on sleep hygiene, sleep, and oral habits was effective in controling sleep and awake bruxism and reducing oral habits. In our study, it was concluded that it would be appropriate to educate and give exercise programs children and parents about physical activity, oral and sleep habits to control bruxism as a preventive treatment approach. In the future, controlling bruxism in children, longer-term studies, and studies conducted by creating a control group are needed.