Introduction:

The sleep bruxism is a behavior that impacts the craniofacial musculoskeletal system characterized by repetitive activity of the masticatory muscles. Several management strategies for sleep bruxism are focused of the relaxation of the involved masticatory muscles, including the intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA). Although the effectiveness of BoNTA for myofascial pain, when related with the sleep bruxism in adult patients, it is necessary to determine its effectiveness using objective outcomes at both craniofacial and systemic levels. In addition, it is necessary to determine the safety of this intervention in the context of adverse events such as aesthetic alterations, reduced masticatory function, mandibular bone loss among others.

Methods:

A search was performed using Epistemonikos, the biggest database for systematic reviews in health, with is maintained by screening of multiple sources of information, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, among others. Data from systematic reviews were extracted, and analysis of the primary studies was performed, including a meta-analysis and a summary of findings table using GRADE assessment.

Results and conclusions:

11 systematic reviews were identified, and 9 primary studies were included. 8 out of these 9 studies corresponded to randomized clinical trials. We conclude that the intramuscular injection of BoNTA may reduce the pain during rest and results in either little or none difference in pain during mastication, when pain is associated with sleep bruxism in adult patients. Also, low evidence is determined for auto-report and subjective evaluation of sleep bruxism among adult patients. Additionally, it is not possible to determine if the BoNTA intervention is effective to reduce the bruxism events due to the low evidence. Finally, although evidence regarding adverse events such as mandibular bone loss after BoNTA intervention in masticatory muscles has been published at preclinical and clinical levels, the clinical trials fail to consider and to report these outcomes.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )