Skip to main content

EDITORIAL article

Front. Neurol., 21 November 2023
Sec. Headache and Neurogenic Pain
This article is part of the Research Topic Orofacial Pain, Bruxism, and Sleep - Volume II View all 5 articles

Editorial: Orofacial pain, bruxism, and sleep, volume II

  • 1Department of Experimental Dentistry, Wroclaw Medical University, Wrocław, Poland
  • 2Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Maurice and Gabriela School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Editorial on the Research Topic
Orofacial pain, bruxism, and sleep, volume II

According to the revised definition by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is now defined as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or one that resembles such an experience” (1). Orofacial pain, on the other hand, is described as “a common type of pain perceived in the face and/or oral cavity, resulting from diseases or disorders of regional structures, dysfunction of the nervous system, or from referral from distant sources” (2).

The current international consensus (3) divides bruxism into two circadian manifestations: awake bruxism (AB) and sleep bruxism (SB). AB is “masticatory muscle activity during wakefulness characterized by repetitive or sustained tooth contact and/or bracing or thrusting of the mandible and is not considered a movement disorder in otherwise healthy individuals.” SB is “masticatory muscle activity during sleep characterized as either rhythmic (phasic) or non-rhythmic (tonic) and is not deemed a movement or sleep disorder in otherwise healthy individuals.” Bruxism is now viewed as a behavior with a central origin and genetic contribution, rather than a parafunction, disorder, or disease in otherwise healthy individuals (3, 4).

Sleep can be defined as “a physiological state characterized by alterations in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, muscle function, and other bodily functions” (5).

Orofacial pain, bruxism, and sleep disorders are interconnected. Complex cause-and-effect relationships exist between them, as does co-occurrence (616). These conditions are found in both genders and across all age groups, highlighting their widespread prevalence (17). They can also arise or intensify due to various internal and external factors, e.g., a pandemic or war and/or an impaired lifestyle, psychoemotional disorders, chronic stress, ineffective stress coping mechanisms, addictions, genetic predispositions, and more (1823). Numerous evidence-based methods are available to address and manage these issues (2429).

Given the intricacies of the topics discussed (etiology, prevalence, cause and effect relationships, co-occurrence, diagnostics, and management), we urge readers to delve deeper into subjects like the traffic-light prognosis-based classification system for managing patients with headache and/or orofacial pain in musculoskeletal practice, the relationship between sleep bruxism and obstructive sleep apnea in relation to sleep architecture, a systematic review of current scientific literature evaluating masticatory muscle activity in individuals with pain-related temporomandibular disorders using surface electromyography, and the dynamic changes in local metrics for patients experiencing toothaches in a resting state, to enhance understanding of the central neural mechanisms in patients with dental pain and its cognitive and emotional effects (Wang et al.; Greenbaum and Emodi-Perlman; Okura et al.; Szyszka-Sommerfeld et al.).

Author contributions

MW: Conceptualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. EW: Conceptualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.

Funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

1. Raja SN, Carr DB, Cohen M, Finnerup NB, Flor H, Gibson S, et al. The revised International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain: concepts, challenges, and compromises. Pain. (2020) 161:1976–82. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001939

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

2. International Classification of Orofacial Pain 1st edition (ICOP). Cephalalgia. (2020) 40:129–221. doi: 10.1177/0333102419893823

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

3. Lobbezoo F, Ahlberg J, Raphael KG, Wetselaar P, Glaros AG, Kato T, et al. International consensus on the assessment of bruxism: report of a work in progress. J Oral Rehabil. (2018) 45:837–44. doi: 10.1111/joor.12663

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

4. Wieckiewicz M, Bogunia-Kubik K, Mazur G, Danel D, Smardz J, Wojakowska A, et al. Genetic basis of sleep bruxism and sleep apnea-response to a medical puzzle. Sci Rep. (2020) 10:7497. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64615-y

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

5. McCarter SJ, Hagen PT, St Louis EK, Rieck TM, Haider CR, Holmes DR, et al. Physiological markers of sleep quality: a scoping review. Sleep Med Rev. (2022) 64:101657. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101657

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

6. Slade GD, Ohrbach R, Greenspan JD, Fillingim RB, Bair E, Sanders AE, et al. Painful temporomandibular disorder: decade of discovery from OPPERA studies. J Dent Res. (2016) 95:1084–92. doi: 10.1177/0022034516653743

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

7. Chang JR, Fu SN, Li X, Li SX, Wang X, Zhou Z, et al. The differential effects of sleep deprivation on pain perception in individuals with or without chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. (2022) 66:101695. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101695

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

8. Topaloglu-Ak A, Kurtulmus H, Basa S, Sabuncuoglu O. Can sleeping habits be associated with sleep bruxism, temporomandibular disorders and dental caries among children? Dent Med Probl. (2022) 59:517–22. doi: 10.17219/dmp/150615

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

9. Mathias JL, Cant ML, Burke ALJ. Sleep disturbances and sleep disorders in adults living with chronic pain: a meta-analysis. Sleep Med. (2018) 52:198–210. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2018.05.023

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

10. Seweryn P, Orzeszek SM, Waliszewska-Prosół M, Jenča A, Osiewicz M, Paradowska-Stolarz A, et al. Relationship between pain severity, satisfaction with life and the quality of sleep in Polish adults with temporomandibular disorders. Dent Med Probl. (2023). doi: 10.17219/dmp/171894

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

11. Roithmann CC, Silva CAGD, Pattussi MP, Grossi ML. Subjective sleep quality and temporomandibular disorders: systematic literature review and meta-analysis. J Oral Rehabil. (2021) 48:1380–94. doi: 10.1111/joor.13265

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

12. Cigdem Karacay B, Sahbaz T. Investigation of the relationship between probable sleep bruxism, awake bruxism and temporomandibular disorders using the diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (DC/TMD). Dent Med Probl. (2023). doi: 10.17219/dmp/158926

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

13. Stanyer EC, Creeney H, Nesbitt AD, Holland PR, Hoffmann J. Subjective sleep quality and sleep architecture in patients with migraine: a meta-analysis. Neurology. (2021) 97:e1620–31. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012701

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

14. Smardz J, Martynowicz H, Michalek-Zrabkowska M, Wojakowska A, Mazur G, Winocur E, et al. Sleep bruxism and occurrence of temporomandibular disorders-related pain: a polysomnographic study. Front Neurol. (2019) 10:168. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00168

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

15. Martynowicz H, Lavigne G, Kato T, Poreba R, Michalek-Zrabkowska M, Macek P, et al. A case-control study on the effect of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) clusters on sleep fragmentation and severity of orofacial muscle pain in sleep bruxism. J Sleep Res. (2023) e14072. doi: 10.1111/jsr.14072

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

16. Slade GD, Greenspan JD, Fillingim RB, Maixner W, Sharma S, Ohrbach R. Overlap of five chronic pain conditions: temporomandibular disorders, headache, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. J Oral Facial Pain Headache. (2020) 34(Suppl):s15–28. doi: 10.11607/ofph.2581

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

17. Valesan LF, Da-Cas CD, Réus JC, Denardin ACS, Garanhani RR, Bonotto D, et al. Prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Oral Investig. (2021) 25:441–53. doi: 10.1007/s00784-020-03710-w

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

18. Wieckiewicz M, Danel D, Pondel M, Smardz J, Martynowicz H, Wieczorek T, et al. Identification of risk groups for mental disorders, headache and oral behaviors in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Rep. (2021) 11:10964. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-90566-z

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

19. Emodi-Perlman A, Eli I, Smardz J, Uziel N, Wieckiewicz G, Gilon E, et al. Temporomandibular disorders and bruxism outbreak as a possible factor of orofacial pain worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic-concomitant research in two countries. J Clin Med. (2020) 9:3250. doi: 10.3390/jcm9103250

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

20. Jahrami HA, Alhaj OA, Humood AM, Alenezi AF, Fekih-Romdhane F, AlRasheed MM, et al. Sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression. Sleep Med Rev. (2022) 62:101591. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101591

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

21. Florjanski W, Orzeszek S. Role of mental state in temporomandibular disorders: a review of the literature. Dent Med Probl. (2021) 58:127–33. doi: 10.17219/dmp/132978

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

22. Zorina-Lichtenwalter K, Ase AR, Verma V, Parra AIM, Komarova S, Khadra A, et al. Characterisation of common genetic variants in P2RX7 and their contribution to chronic pain conditions. J Pain. (2023). doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.09.011

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

23. López-Muciño LA, García-García F, Cueto-Escobedo J, Acosta-Hernández M, Venebra-Muñoz A, Rodríguez-Alba JC. Sleep loss and addiction. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. (2022) 141:104832. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104832

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

24. Florjanski W, Malysa A, Orzeszek S, Smardz J, Olchowy A, Paradowska-Stolarz A, et al. Evaluation of biofeedback usefulness in masticatory muscle activity management-a systematic review. J Clin Med. (2019) 8:766. doi: 10.3390/jcm8060766

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

25. Votrubec C, Tran P, Lei A, Brunet Z, Bean L, Olsen BW, et al. Cannabinoid therapeutics in orofacial pain management: a systematic review. Aust Dent J. (2022) 67:314–27. doi: 10.1111/adj.12934

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

26. Romero-Reyes M, Arman S, Teruel A, Kumar S, Hawkins J, Akerman S. Pharmacological management of orofacial pain. Drugs. (2023) 83:1269–92. doi: 10.1007/s40265-023-01927-z

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

27. Ferrillo M, Giudice A, Marotta N, Fortunato F, Di Venere D, Ammendolia A, et al. Pain management and rehabilitation for central sensitization in temporomandibular disorders: a comprehensive review. Int J Mol Sci. (2022) 23:12164. doi: 10.3390/ijms232012164

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

28. Uniken Venema JAM, Rosenmöller BRAM, de Vries N, de Lange J, Aarab G, Lobbezoo F, et al. Mandibular advancement device design: a systematic review on outcomes in obstructive sleep apnea treatment. Sleep Med Rev. (2021) 60:101557. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101557

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

29. Al-Moraissi EA, Conti PCR, Alyahya A, Alkebsi K, Elsharkawy A, Christidis N. The hierarchy of different treatments for myogenous temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Oral Maxillofac Surg. (2022) 26:519–33. doi: 10.1007/s10006-021-01009-y

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Keywords: orofacial pain, bruxism, sleep, obstructive sleep apnea, headache

Citation: Wieckiewicz M and Winocur E (2023) Editorial: Orofacial pain, bruxism, and sleep, volume II. Front. Neurol. 14:1331275. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1331275

Received: 31 October 2023; Accepted: 09 November 2023;
Published: 21 November 2023.

Edited and reviewed by: Massimiliano Valeriani, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Italy

Copyright © 2023 Wieckiewicz and Winocur. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Mieszko Wieckiewicz, m.wieckiewicz@onet.pl

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.