Abstract
This paper summarizes the background reasoning and work that led to the selection of the items included in the Standardized Tool for the Assessment of Bruxism (STAB), also introducing the list of items. The instrument is currently being tested for face validity and on-field comprehension.
The underlying premise is that the different motor activities included in the bruxism spectrum (e.g., clenching versus grinding, with or without teeth contact) potentially need to be discriminated from each other, based on their purportedly different etiology, comorbidities, and potential consequences. Focus should be on a valid impression of the activities' frequency, intensity, and duration.
The methods that can be used for the above purposes can be grouped into strategies that collect information from the patient's history (subject-based), from the clinical assessment performed by an examiner (clinically based), or from the use of instruments to measure certain outcomes (instrumentally based). The three strategies can apply to all aspects of bruxism (i.e., status, comorbid conditions, etiology, and consequences).
The STAB will help gathering information on many aspects, factors, and conditions that are currently poorly investigated in the field of bruxism. To this purpose, it is divided into two axes. Axis A includes the self-reported information on bruxism status and potential consequences (subject-based report) together with the clinical (examiner report) and instrumental assessment (technology report). Axis B includes the self-reported information (subject-based report) on factors and conditions that may have an etiological or comorbid role for bruxism. This comprehensive multidimensional assessment system will allow building predictive model for clinical and research purposes.
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