University of Otago dental student Jessica Po hooks
research subject and flatmate Jelle Kouwenhoven up to a
portable electromicrograph machine to monitor his
night-time teeth grinding habits. On the computer screen
are the results of one of his previous recordings. Photo by
Stephen Jaquiery.
When University of Otago dental student Jessica Po began
searching for participants for her research into nocturnal
teeth grinders, she discovered a subject so close to home he
was actually in it.
She was unaware her flatmate Jelle Kouwenhoven (22) was a
tooth grinder until his girlfriend dobbed him in.
"I haven't heard him. We're separated by two doors, a hallway
and a bathroom. But some people grind their teeth so loudly
they can be heard outside a closed door," Ms Po (21) said
yesterday.
An estimated 8% of men and women across all ethnic groups
ground or clenched their teeth, she said. No-one was quite
sure why, and most grinders only found out they did so when
told by their bed-mates they were "bugging them".
"People who grind their teeth at night usually do so very
intensively, so it's a really odd noise and can be very loud
and annoying."
There could be physical and psychological consequences,
including worn teeth, headaches, a painful jaw, sore face
muscles and pain in the temporomandicular joint, the points
just in front of the ears where the jawbone attaches to the
rest of the skull.
The fifth-year student decided to study tooth grinders and
record electronic patterns of their overnight habits after
completing a project over the summer recording people eating
food.
For the summer project, participants were hooked up to a
small portable electron micrograph machine to record the
sound of their chewing. The sounds were turned into digital
patterns using a data processing algorithm designed by her
supervisor, Prof Mauro Farella.
The recording process is the same for the teeth grinders, who
wear the machine over two nights while eating their evening
meal and sleeping.
As well as producing attractive and unique patterns, her
research was showing obvious differences between normal tooth
activity such as eating and night-time grinding or clenching,
Ms Po said.
So far, Ms Po has analysed 10 teeth grinders but would like
more - as many more as she can get. Anyone willing to
participate can contact her at jessica.po@otago.ac.nz
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