Parents’ knowledge about childhood bruxism: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Statement of Problem: Childhood bruxism is a public health concern, and parents/caregivers are the sources of information about children’s habits. Purpose: this systematic review aimed to determine the proportion of knowledge of parents and caregivers about sleep and awake bruxism in children. Material and Methods: cross-sectional studies were included, sourced from Embase, PubMed, LILACS, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ProQuest. Meta-analyses were conducted using Jamovi 2.3.21 Software. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist. Results: Initially, 580 records were identified of which 20 were selected for full reading and 16 were included in the analysis. For sleep bruxism, 10 were used in the meta-analysis on caregivers’ knowledge about childhood and six for the correct definition. One study reported awake bruxism, making it impossible to draw definitive conclusions. Metaanalysis showed that 52% (CI: 0.36 to 0.68; I2 =99.43%; p<0.001) of the caregivers declared knowing bruxism (population = 4585), while 69% (CI: 0.49 to 0.88; I2 = 99.62%; p<0.01) defined it correctly (population = 3650). Studies showed risk of bias, mainly due to confounding factors, questionnaire types, and statistical analyses. Conclusion: While half of caregivers knew about sleep bruxism, approximately seven in ten accurately defined it. Awake bruxism had no conclusive results. Registration: CRD42023389357.