Urinary catecholamine levels and bruxism in children

This study was performed to test the hypothesis that emotionally stressful states measured by the urinary catecholamines may affect the development of bruxism. Three hundred and fourteen children, boys and girls, aged 6–8 years were included in this study. Bruxism was recorded by a clinical examination and an interview. Positive evidence of this parafunction was defined as the presence of both historical and clinical indicators. Information concerning systemic and socio‐economic factors was collected by a questionnaire. A 24‐h urine sample was collected for each subject and analysed by the high performance liquid chromatography technique to assay the catecholamine content. Of the total of 273 children who had a complete 24‐h urine sample, 167 were identified to be with and without positive evidence of bruxism. The logistic multiple‐regression analysis was carried out to test whether the presence of bruxism was affected by the variables studied; 95% probability was used. The results showed that epinephrine and dopamine had a significant and strong association with bruxism. The data therefore provide support for the concept that emotional stress is a prominent factor in the development of bruxing behaviour.