Importance of Digastric Muscle Sensitivity in Bruxism

Objective. It was aimed to assess the differences in the sensitivities of masticatory and digastric muscles during examination because of continuous and excessive forces in case of bruxism. Material and Method. From the masticatory muscles of 162 individuals with bruxism and 162 control individuals, masseter, temporalis, medial / lateral pterygoideus muscles and digastric muscles were examined. Perceived sense of discomfort-pain during muscle examinations was scored according to a numerical rating scale and recorded as right and left. Results. In individuals with bruxism, the pain scores of the patients for each examined muscle were higher than the control group (p<0.05). In the ROC analysis performed in bruxism, cut-off values for digastric muscle, lateral pterygoideus muscle and other muscles were 2.5, 1.5 and 0.5, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the digastric muscles were found to be higher than other muscles (sensitivity: right=72.8%, left=72.8%, specificity: right=18.5%, left=17.9%). Conclusion. Bruxism affects digastric muscles more than masticatory muscles. Digastric muscles and other masticatory muscles should be evaluated in addition to masseter muscle pain, hypertrophy and fatigue in the clinical diagnosis of bruxism.