Daytime tooth clenching in musicians; does wearing a thin plastic tooth cover help reduce it?

All participants in the clinical study will attend a dental clinic in Sydney CBD to have a dental impression taken of their lower teeth. At that time they will also be given written and verbal advice about avoiding daytime tooth contact (awake bruxism - AB). This advice is available in: - Management of Temperomandibular Disorders & Occlusion 7th Edition 2012 Elsevier; Mosby Hardcover ISBN: 9780323082204 Shortly after that the participants will be divided, non-randomly into study group and control group such that the two groups will be age and gender matched. This is important as symptoms from this behaviour are known to be more prevalent in females and to decline with age. A thin transparent lower tooth cover will be made on the plaster models derived from the dental impression for members of the study group. This is made from a square blank of the plastic material on a thermoforming machine using heat and suction to pull the blank onto the plaster model. The excess is trimmed off, the tooth cover is trimmed and polished. The study group participants will wear the tooth cover daily for a period of 3 months. They may put it in their mouths and take it out as often as they wish during the day. They will be advised to wear it for some period of time every day. There is no minimum length of time daily that the tooth cover should be worn. It could be that frequent insertion and removal of the cover is as valuable as wearing it in terms of generating awareness of tooth clenching. The frequency of use is one of the questions in the questionnaire at the end of the trial. Study group participants will be issued with their tooth covers at the same dental clinic in Sydney where impressions were taken. They will be given written and verbal advice on the use and care of the tooth covers. This advice is designed specifically for this study. The lead researcher and his co-researcher will deliver all clinical aspects of the trial. Both researchers are registered dentists. The co-researcher has 10 years clinical experience. The lead researcher has 50 years clinical experience. Both individuals have carried out the clinical procedures needed many times.