Trigeminal somatosensory evoked potentials: a normal value study

Normal somatosensory evoked potentials were obtained from the lower lip of 40 volunteers. Efforts were made to exclude artefact. A consistent triphasic wave form of three peaks and troughs was defined. There were greater variations in amplitude than latency between subjects. Statistically, one side of the lower lip can be used as a control for the contralateral side, but it may not be possible to have reliable normal values between subjects. Somatosensory evoked potentials may however represent an objective method of evaluating trigeminal sensory nerve function.