Journal of oral rehabilitation
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of experimental jaw-muscle pain on the spatial distribution of surface EMG activity of the human masseter muscle during tooth clenching.
This study tested the hypothesis that painful injections of glutamate into the human masseter muscle differentially affect the distribution of the electromyographic (EMG) activity in the masseter muscle at rest and during tooth clenching. Surface EMG signals were recorded bilaterally from the superficial masseter of nine healthy men with a grid of 32 electrodes, before and after intramuscular injection of glutamate or isotonic saline, during rest and isometric contractions at 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% of the maximal voluntary bite force. ⋯ Moreover, the overall EMG amplitude decreased on both sides during the more forceful tooth clenching following glutamate injection. In conclusion, a unilateral painful stimulation was associated with a bilateral inhibition of the masseter muscles during tooth clenching which resulted in a more uniform distribution of EMG activity.