Projection of the Tooth Pulp and Oro-facial Afferents to Neurons in the Cortical Somatosensory Area in the Cat
1983 Volume 50 Issue 3 Pages 443-449
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1983 Volume 50 Issue 3 Pages 443-449
Patientss ufferingf romt oothacheo ccasionallyh ave a referred pain in the oro-faciarl egion and vice versa. A searchw as made in the corticals omatosensorayr ea (SI) for the afferentp rojectionf rom the tooth pulp and oro-faciasl tructurest o investigatet he neurophysiologicmale chanisms of these symptoms.
Responses of the neurons in SI were studied to the stimulation of the canine tooth pulp and oro-faciasl tructures in immobilizecda ts anesthetizedw ith α-chloralose.
The results are as follows;
1) One hundred and eighteen single units were recorded after the contralateral inferior alveolar nerve stimulation, 19 of which were also activated by the tooth pulp stimulation. The peak latency of the spikes driven by the tooth pulp stimulation was 20-24 msec in the PSTH.
2) Three neurons received input only from a single tooth pulp, while the remaining 16 neurons were activated by the stimulationo f the skin or musclei n the oro-faciarl egiona s well.
These results indicatet hat there is an extensivec onvergencoe f the afferentsb etweenf rom the tooth pulp and from the other oro-facial structures in the central nervous system and that this convergencec ouldb e a basis of the oro-faciarl eferred pain.
