Until now, available data on Awake Bruxism prevalence derive from retrospective self-reports at a single observation point. Such an approach may potentially lead to an imperfect estimate due to the absence of information on the frequency as well as to the patients’ forced recall of their oral conditions during the time span covered by the report, which is usually very generic and refers to wide periods (e.g., days, weeks, months). Thus, collecting real time data at multiple recording points during the day, close in time with the experience in the natural environment, as provided with EMA approaches, could be the most suitable strategy to approximate a definite depiction of the epidemiology of Awake Bruxism behaviors and improve on previous work on the topic. In turn, it could help getting deeper into the debated issues concerning the etiology and clinical consequences.
Based on that, it could be useful to assess the frequency of all conditions (i.e., teeth clenching, jaw clenching, teeth grinding, teeth contacting habits) that are potentially part of the spectrum of Awake Bruxism behaviors in a natural environment. To pursue that goal, smartphone technology provides an ideal platform for the adoption of EMA-based on-time evaluations at multiple daily recording points over multiple-day spans. This investigation was thus designed to assess the frequency of the above Awake Bruxism behaviors over one week in a sample of healthy young adults by the adoption of a dedicated smartphone application (BruxApp)
