Case Study for Monitoring the Rhythmic Masticatory Muscle Activity During Sleep Bruxism Episodes by Using Fiber Bragg Gratings

We report the use of optical fiber sensors for monitoring the rhythmic masticatory muscle activity during sleep bruxism episodes, which represents an original approach. Our work measured the hyperactivity of a volunteer wearing different types of occlusal devices that were instrumented by fiber Bragg grating sensors. We compare results obtained with two different occlusal device materials (rigid and resilient). We also investigated thermal images obtained with an infrared camera before and after the sleeping period, to observe the associated temperature changes. The results demonstrated that different hyperactivity can be perceived depending of the material used.