Occlusal Splint
A removable hard or soft dental appliance worn over the teeth to modify or stabilise occlusal forces, used in bruxism and temporomandibular disorder research.
Full Definition
An occlusal splint, also referred to as a night guard or stabilisation splint, is a removable dental device fabricated to cover the occlusal surfaces of the maxillary or mandibular teeth. It is a common intervention studied in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and bruxism research. In manuscripts, authors should specify the splint type (hard acrylic, soft, flat-plane, or repositioning), arch covered, and wearing schedule, as these variables affect outcomes. Editors should query any manuscript that uses 'occlusal splint', 'bite guard', 'night guard', and 'stabilisation splint' interchangeably, as these terms may denote different appliance designs in some classification systems. The word 'splint' is always lowercased unless at the start of a sentence.
Usage
Usage note: Specify splint type (hard/soft, flat-plane/repositioning) at first mention; generic use of 'splint' is imprecise in clinical research writing and should be queried.
In Context
- "Participants in the intervention group were fitted with a hard acrylic occlusal splint to be worn nightly for 12 weeks." — TMD clinical trial protocol
- "The author's interchangeable use of 'occlusal splint' and 'repositioning splint' was flagged, as the latter implies a different mandibular position and different clinical indication." — Editorial query