Bruxism and orthodontic retainers – just published in Progress in Orthodontics

Nice research with the friends at the Post-Graduate School in Orthodontics of the University of Ferrara!

The clinical research question: what’s going to happen when we put orthodontic aligners in our patients’ mouth? Increased, decreased, or unaltered masticatory muscle activity (MMA) during sleep?
The first step: to assess the “neutral condition”, viz., invisible retainers, not having any active orthodontic effect.
The design: controlled trial, with each individual (healthy people without TMD symptoms) undergoing two nights of MMA recording without, one night off, and two nights with the retainers in situ.
The results: no significant differences at group level can be detected, with only a moderately higher activity during the nights with the retainers in situ.
The future: performance of new studies trying to measure MMA as a continuum and adopting different protocols of retainers’ use (e.g., cross-over, longer periods); performance of similar studies in patients undergoing active orthodontic treatment with aligners.
The clinical implications: it can be cautiosly suggested that retainers do not increase MMA, thus allowing their quite safe use in the average people.