The Clarification about Mechanism of Awake Bruxism using Neuroimaging Technique

本研究的目的是在第一个研究中比较拳头和牙齿咬紧时的脑活动，并在第二个研究中探讨牙周传入输入在咀嚼肌诱发的脑活动模式中的作用。首先研究表明，双侧轻握拳显著激活双侧感觉运动皮层，而轻咬牙与双侧感觉运动皮层、辅助运动区、背外侧前额叶皮层和后顶叶皮层的激活显著相关。第二项研究表明，假叩齿和叩齿时的脑活动没有差异。我们的研究结果表明，在咬紧牙齿的大脑活动有特定的模式，在中枢神经系统和牙周传入输入和相关的下颌肌肉活动的影响是相对较小的节奏相比，下颌运动。

The aim of this project was to compare the cerebral activity between fists and tooth clenching in first study, and to investigate the role of periodontal afferent inputs on cerebral activation pattern evoked by masticatory muscle in second study. First study showed that bilateral light fist clenching significantly activated the bilateral sensorimotor cortex, while light teeth clenching was significantly associated with activation of bilateral sensorimotor cortex, supplementary motor area, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. Second study showed that there was no difference in cerebral activity between during sham tooth tapping and tooth tapping. Our findings suggest that the cerebral activity during tooth clenching has specific pattern in the central nerve system and the influence of periodontal afferent inputs and associated jaw muscle activity is relatively minor compared to the rhythmic jaw movements.