Subjective and objective assessments of short-term adverse effects induced by oral appliance therapy in obstructive sleep apnea: a preliminary study.

UNLABELLED Abnormal occlusal sensation induced by wearing oral appliance (OA) was assessed in this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve non-apneic healthy subjects with normal dental occlusion were used in this study. The 12 subjects slept wearing OAs at night. Occlusal sensation, biting force, occlusal contact area and muscle fatigue were evaluated every 15 minutes during 4 hours after removals of worn OAs when they waked up on the following morning. Same procedures were repeated on the same subjects after the sleep without OAs on the other day. RESULT The differences of occlusal sensation was statistically significant up to 75 minutes after removal of OAs (p < 0.05). The difference of biting force was statistically significant immediately after removal of OAs (p < 0.05). There were statistically significant correlations (p < 0.05) between occlusal sensation and biting force in 9 of 12 subjects. Two of 12 subjects showed significant correlations (p < 0.05) between occlusal sensation and muscle fatigue. Only one of 12 subjects showed significant correlation (p < 0.05) between biting force and muscle fatigue. CONCLUSION Abnormal occlusal sensation is probably elicited by non-physiological displacement of TMJs, nonphysiological extension of the chewing muscles and/or continuous compression toward the periodontal membranes by using OAs for hours at night.