Journal of oral rehabilitation
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The relationship between nocturnal jaw-muscle activity and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) is still controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of selective slow wave sleep (SWS = non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) stage 3 + 4) deprivation on jaw-muscle activity using a new automatic system. Ten healthy men without signs of symptoms of TMD participated. ⋯ The results showed that the time spent in SWS was significantly decreased during the first sleep deprivation night, but there were no significant effects on nocturnal EMG activity (i.e. the numbers of bruxism episodes per hour of sleep, bruxism bursts per episodes bruxism bursts per hour of sleep), MVOF, VAS or PPT. Furthermore, the automatic system only deprived the SWS in five subjects for the following two nights although the sound stimulation was given at the maximum intensity. These results suggest that deprivation of SWS may not interact immediately with nocturnal jaw-muscle activity and jaw-muscle pain.