Abstract
Correlations of the sensation with the cortical EEG response and the inhibition of the masseteric EMG were studied by applying electrical pulses to the tooth pulp of an upper central incisor in 15 children in good health of 7.7 years of age on the average, who had no caries in the upper central incisor and were co-operative in the experiment. The following results were obtained; 1. Pre-pain sensation was elicited when the tooth pulp was stimulated by monophasic electrical pulses at the intensity lower than that required for evoking pain sensation. The threshold intensity for pre-pain is usually constant in each subject when tested with pulses of 1 or 10 msec in duration delivered at 1 Hz.2. The threshold intensity for pre-pain sensation was approximately the same as that for the initial negative component (N1) of the evoked EEG.3. The threshold intensity for pre-pain sensation was approximately the same as that for the early phase of inhibition of the masseteric EMG. It was concluded that the responses in the cortical EEG and the inhibition of the masseteric EMG evoked by electrical tooth pulp stimulation can be objective indices of the sensation elicited by tooth pulp stimulation in children.
