[A method for recording the human periodontal muscular reflex]

Principal block-diagram and characteristics of devices recording the parameters of periodontal muscular reflex in humans are presented. Twenty healthy volunteers aged 20 to 30 years with full dentition and normal occlusion and temporomandibular articulations unchanged were studied. Parameters of periodontal muscular reflex showed no bilateral asymmetry. Temporal muscles displayed 15 +/- 0.87 s latencies, masseters 13 +/- 0.8 latencies. Silent periods in temporal muscles were 22 +/- 0.89 ms and in masseters 24 +/- 0.75 ms. In patients with mandibular fractures the time of periodontal muscular reflex was increased up to 3-4-fold as compared to that in normal subjects. The indices of the reflex are clearly different in normal and pathological conditions. This technique is useful both in scientific and diagnostic purposes.