The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 81 No. 5 May 1999, pp. 2156-2163
Copyright ©1999 by the American Physiological Society

Jaw Reflexes Evoked by Mechanical Stimulation of Teeth in Humans

Department of Physiology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

Yang, J. and K. S. Türker. Jaw Reflexes Evoked by Mechanical Stimulation of Teeth in Humans. J. Neurophysiol. 81: 2156-2163, 1999.Jaw reflexes evoked by mechanical stimulation of teeth in humans. The reflex response of jaw muscles to mechanical stimulation of an upper incisor tooth was investigated using the surface electromyogram (SEMG) of the masseter muscle and the bite force. With a slowly rising stimulus, the reflex response obtained on the masseter SEMG showed three different patterns of reflex responses; sole excitation, sole inhibition, and inhibition followed by excitation. Simultaneously recorded bite force, however, exhibited mainly one reflex response pattern, a decrease followed by an increase in the net closing force. A rapidly rising stimulus also induced several different patterns of reflex responses in the masseter SEMG. When the simultaneously recorded bite force was analyzed, however, there was only one reflex response pattern, a decrease in the net closing force. Therefore, the reflex change in the masseter muscle is not a good representative of the net reflex response of all jaw muscles to mechanical tooth stimulation. The net response is best expressed by the averaged bite force. The averaged bite force records showed that when the stimulus force was developing rapidly, the periodontal reflex could reduce the bite force and hence protect the teeth and supporting tissues from damaging forces. It also can increase the bite force; this might help keep food between the teeth if the change in force rate is slow, especially when the initial bite force is low.