A bracelet that vibrates during sleep can stop people from grinding their teeth.
The gadget, which is worn on the wrist, is wirelessly connected to a mouthguard full of pressure sensors.
These detect teeth grinding and send a signal to the bracelet to gently vibrate twice in quick succession – each time for just a fraction of a second.
Research shows that this is enough to wake someone from sleep enough to stop grinding their teeth, without waking them up completely.
The device can reduce the amount of teeth grinding by almost 80 percent.
Teeth grinding – or bruxism – affects up to 30 percent of adults in Britain. The pressure on the teeth during grinding can be more than 20 times greater than the force produced during normal chewing and biting.
As a result, teeth can be damaged or broken off. Bruxism can also cause sleep disturbances, headaches and discomfort in and around the jaw.
Teeth grinding – or bruxism – affects up to 30 percent of adults in Britain (Stock Image)
Stress and anxiety are the most common triggers, but they are also more likely in heavy snorers (the mouth can dry out due to labored breathing and scientists think clenching and grinding helps lubricate the mouth).
Treatment usually involves wearing a mouthguard at night to protect the teeth from damage.
Currently, the only way to confirm a diagnosis is a sleep study – or polysomnography – which requires an overnight stay in a sleep center, where doctors record episodes of teeth grinding.
But the new bracelet and mouthguard – developed by Swiss company Aesyra, a spin-out of Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology – could simplify both testing and treatment.
There are four pressure sensors embedded in the resin-based mouthguard. When the wearer grinds their teeth, the sensors respond within two seconds to send a signal to the bracelet.
At the same time, the data is downloaded to an app to track bruxism episodes.
During prototype testing at the University of Siena dental school in Italy, patients with bruxism wore the technology for three consecutive nights.
A bracelet that vibrates during sleep can stop people from grinding their teeth. The gadget is wirelessly connected to a mouthguard full of pressure sensors (Stock Image)
The results, published in the International Journal of Dentistry in 2022, showed that they experienced an average of seven episodes of teeth grinding per hour – each lasting around seven seconds – when the mouthguard was worn but not attached to the bracelet.
When the bracelet was turned on, the number of episodes dropped by almost 80 percent.
A larger trial involving around 30 patients is now underway at San Gerardo Hospital in Italy.
Dentist Mick Armstrong, chairman of the British Dental Association’s health and science committee, said it was ‘a potentially interesting development’.
He added: ‘In some people, bruxism can be frequent and severe enough to lead to jaw disorders, headaches, damaged teeth and other problems.
‘It’s important to reduce any stress, while dentists can provide a soft or hard mouthguard that you can wear at night so you don’t damage your teeth.’