Controlled clinical, polysomnographic and psychometric studies on differences between sleep bruxers and controls and acute effects of clonazepam as compared with placebo.

The pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and pharmacotherapy of sleep bruxism (SB) are still not fully understood. We investigated symptomatology, objective and subjective sleep and awakening quality of middle-aged bruxers compared with controls and acute effects of clonazepam 1 mg compared with placebo by polysomnography and psychometry. Twenty-one drug-free bruxers spent 3 nights in the sleep lab, 21 age- and sex-matched controls 2 nights. Clinically, bruxers exhibited deteriorated PSQI, SAS, SDS and IRLSSG measures, polysomnographically impaired sleep maintenance, increased movement time, stage shift index, periodic leg movements (PLM) and arousals and psychometrically deteriorated subjective sleep and awakening quality, evening/morning well-being, drive, mood, drowsiness, attention variability, memory, and fine motor activity. As compared with placebo, clonazepam significantly decreased the SB index in all patients (mean: -42 +/- 15%). Sleep efficiency, maintenance, latency, awakenings and nocturnal wake time, the stage shift index, S1, PLM, the arousal index, subjective sleep and awakening quality, and fine motor activity improved.