Short-term effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on sleep bruxism - a pilot study

• Published in: International journal of oral science Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 61 - 65
• Main Authors: Zhou, Wei-Na, Fu, Hai-Yang, Du, Yi-Fei, Sun, Jian-Hua, Zhang, Jing-Lu, Wang, Chen, Svensson, Peter, Wang, Ke-Lun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.03.2016; Springer Nature B.V; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of 0ral Diseases, 0rofacial Pain and Temporo-mandibular Disorders Research Unit, Institute of Stomatology, Af iliated Hospital of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China%Department of Rehabilitation, Af iliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China%Department of 0ral and Maxil ofacial Surgery, Af iliated Hospital of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China%Section of Clinical 0ral Physiology, School of Dentistry, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Dentistry; Electromyography; Female; Humans; Male; Masseter Muscle - physiopathology; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Original; original-article; Orthopedics; Pilot Projects; rTMS; Sleep Bruxism - physiopathology; Sleep Bruxism - therapy; Surgical Orthopedics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Treatment Outcome; 睡眠; 短期影响; 经颅磁刺激; 肌电图; 肌肉酸痛; 运动皮层; 阈值强度; orofacial pain; behavioural science; brain function; sleep bruxism; electromyography; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
• ISSN: 1674-2818; 2049-3169; 2049-3169
• DOI: 10.1038/ijos.2015.35

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation （rTMS） on patients with sleep bruxism （SB）. Twelve patients with SB were included in an open, single-intervention pilot study, rTMS at 1 Hz and an intensity of 80% of the active motor threshold was applied to the ‘hot spot＇ of the masseter muscle representation at the primary motor cortex bilaterally for 20 rain per side each day for 5 consecutive days. The jaw-closing muscle electromyographic （EMG） activity during sleep was recorded with a portable EMG recorder at baseline, during rTMS treatment and at follow-up for 5 days. In addition, patients scored their jaw-closing muscle soreness on a 0-10 numerical rating scale （NRS）. Data were analysed with analysis of variance. The intensity of the EMG activity was suppressed during and after rTMS compared to the baseline （P = 0.04; P = 0.02, respectively）. The NRS score of soreness decreased significantly during and after rTMS compared with baseline （P 〈 0.01）. These findings indicated a significant inhibition of jaw-closing muscle activity during sleep along with a decrease of muscle soreness. This pilot study raises the possibility of therapeutic benefits from rTMS in patients with bruxism and calls for further and more controlled studies.