~ 185 ~ International Journal of Applied Dental Sciences 2022; 8(4): 185-188 ISSN Print: 2394-7489 ISSN Online: 2394-7497 IJADS 2022; 8(4): 185-188 © 2022 IJADS www.oraljournal.com Received: 21-10-2022 Accepted: 24-11-2022 Diana Cecilia Contreras Sandoval Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, Facultad De Odontología, Master Degree in Prosthodontics, Monterrey, NL CP 64460, México Ismael Alejandro Guerrero Rodríguez Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, Facultad De Odontología, Master Degree in Prosthodontics, Monterrey, NL CP 64460, México Norma Cruz Fierro Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, Faculty of Dentistry, Master Degree in Prosthodontics. Monterrey, NL CP 64460, México Patricia García Palencia Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, Facultad De Odontología, Microbiology department. Monterrey, NL CP 64460, México Corresponding Author: Diana Cecilia Contreras Sandoval Universidad Autónoma De Nuevo León, Facultad De Odontología, Master Degree in Prosthodontics, Monterrey, NL CP 64460, México Increase in bruxism cases during COVID pandemic Diana Cecilia Contreras Sandoval, Ismael Alejandro Guerrero Rodríguez, Norma Cruz Fierro and Patricia García Palencia DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/oral.2022.v8.i4c.1645 Abstract Introduction: Bruxism is currently a very common disorder in patients and there has been an increase in cases since COVID started. Studies and clinical cases have shown that different adverse effects occur as a result. Objective: To provide information about bruxism during the pandemic. It also explains the adverse effects that occur with this disorder: attrition, prosthetic complications, and temporomandibular disorders. Methods: An electronic article search was carried out through the PubMed and Mendeley databases, using the keywords: "bruxism", "COVID", "anxiety", Boolean operators were used as AND and OR. Results: Since the pandemic generated psychological stress, more patients developed bruxism. One of the effects in patients with bruxism is attrition, which occurs due to the grinding and clenching of the teeth. As much force is exerted on the teeth to suffer from this disorder prosthetic treatments tend to present complications. Bruxism and temporomandibular disorders have a great relationship since one lead to the other, signs include facial pain, headache, muscle pain, among others. Conclusion: The pandemic has caused an increase of the cases of patients with bruxism due to the stress generated, which has adverse effects such as attrition, prosthodontics complications and temporomandibular disorders. It is important to detect this disorder in the patients before it starts to damage dental health and to know how to manage the cases depending on the problems they have. Keywords: COVID, bruxism, anxiety 1. Introduction Bruxism is a repetitive activity of the masticatory muscles characterized by clenching or grinding teeth, or by strengthening or pushing the jaw [1] . It is nonfunctional activity of the dentomaxilar apparatus with repetitive and unconscious movements [2] . There are two types of bruxism that can occur during the day with a awake patient and at night when sleeping. A study showed that the prevalence of bruxism in awake patients is 15.2% and in patients who sleep 32% [1] . Awake bruxism refers to clenching teeth and jaws during wakefulness. Sleep bruxism is defined as clenching or grinding of teeth during sleep [3] . Different causes of bruxism have been studied, in adults some of them are stress, smoking, alcoholism, consumption of coffee, insomnia, anxiety [4] . Other psychosocial factors, such as depression and catastrophism, can influence on this disorder [5] . In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), began to spread worldwide [6] . The World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic and a public health emergency of international importance in March 2020. COVID-19 has affected health and wellbeing globally. In addition to health, monetary, community, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature [7] . Bruxism is now a disorder that becomes more common with the presence of COVID. With the emergence of COVID, people’s common psychological responses to the pandemic included stress, concern, and sadness [6] . All of these can influence oral and maxillofacial syndromes, such as temporomandibular (TMD) and bruxism, which could further aggravate orofacial pain [8] .