Ambulatory devices to detect sleep bruxism: a narrative review

Sleep bruxism is a masticatory muscle activity that occurs during sleep and presents as rhythmic or non-rhythmic activities commonly seen in healthy individuals but might also represent movement or sleep disorders. Given that the clinical presentations of sleep bruxism are relevant to dentistry, the early detection of sleep bruxism is of particular interest to dentists. However, the gold standard for sleep bruxism diagnosis involves polysomnography with audio-visual recording – a resource intensive and mostly inaccessible diagnostic method. As such, ambulatory devices to detect sleep bruxism have the potential to address the limitations of polysomnography. This review of the literature was carried out up until December 2024 on commercially available ambulatory devices in detecting sleep bruxism. Select ambulatory devices appear promising as a preliminary screening tool for sleep bruxism both in clinical practice and for domestic use.