[Life age and tactile as well as nociceptive thresholds of the teeth]

The sensibility of the epicritic (= tactile) and protopathic (= nociceptive) functions of the teeth decreases with advancing age. This has been demonstrated by simultaneously evaluating the minimum threshold shock duration after low-temperature stimuli (thermal threshold of pain) and the number of errors in wire thickness comparison tests (tactile sensibility). By contrast, the reparative processes in the elderly are dominated by delayed reaction type patterns, while in younger persons early reaction type patterns are prevailing.