Case history
Case history #1
A 52-year-old man presents with a severely worn dentition, with less than one third of the incisors left. The excessive wear has started to bother him from an aesthetic point of view and causes difficulties with biting and chewing food. He has no complaints of pain or stiffness in the jaw muscles. However, he often wakes with hypersensitive teeth that gradually improve during the day. He is aware of his tooth-grinding habit both when awake and during sleep. His bruxism worsened after a traumatic head injury.
Case history #2
A 22-year-old woman presents with moderate dull pain in the jaw-closing muscles and frequent temporal headaches. The symptoms are worse in the morning, and she has a feeling of fatigued and tense jaw muscles on waking. The symptoms have lasted for 2 months, and she feels increasingly stressed because of an upcoming deadline at work. She has to work long hours, has increased caffeine intake, has resumed smoking cigarettes, and is sleeping less than optimally. Her partner has reported that she makes tooth-grinding sounds during sleep.
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