Journal of oral rehabilitation
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The aim of the present study was to investigate the short-term impact of an occlusal highspot on the occurrence of orofacial symptoms by collecting self-evaluation and using electromyography (EMG) evaluation. A rigid unilateral intercuspal occlusal highspot (A cast onlay of 0.5 mm) was placed on the right lower first molar of six adult volunteers (three males, three females), and remained for 6 days. Continuously all the induced orofacial symptoms were collected and the subjects scored the orofacial pain on a 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS) during the placement of onlay. ⋯ A unilateral occlusal highspot may make the ipsilateral anterior temporalis become tenser at rest position. Furthermore, the activity of bilateral anterior temporalis becomes more unsymmetrical during MVC although there are inter-individual differences between subjects. The changes in muscular activity may have some relationship with the occurrence of tension-type headache in temporal region.