Case study of muscle fatigue in parafunctional patient using occlusal device with fiber Bragg grating sensors

This case study describes a new method using a fiber optic Bragg grating sensor to determine muscle fatigue in a patient wearing a resilient occlusal device for the treatment of bruxism symptoms. Four tasks performed at maximum bite force induced rapid exhaustion for the analysis of fatigue. The results show that it is possible to obtain a better understanding of the muscle fatigue process by using the fiber sensor. Differences between the bite patterns are detected at each phase of the induced fatigue. It is possible to compare the bite peak sensitivity coefficients for the exhaustion phase, 1.37 Ns-1, and for fatigue phase, 2.54 Ns-1. Additionally, the increase in the facial thermal profile is correlated to the different bite force pattern performed.