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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Somatosensory Event-related Potentials from Orofacial Skin Stretch Stimulation
Published on: December 18, 2015
Effect of sleep restriction on somatosensory sensitivity including occlusal sensation in the orofacial area
Hideta Nishimori1, Takashi Iida1, Hirona Kamiyama1
1Division of Oral Function and Rehabilitation, Department of Oral Health Science, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Matsudo, Japan.
Purpose:
To investigate the effect of sleep restriction on somatosensory sensitivity related to occlusion.
Methods:
Twelve healthy participants participated in an experimental voluntary total sleep restriction (SR) study. In a study design, they were invited to sleep as usual, normal sleep (NS) or to restrict their sleep for four nights. Following the SR night, participants were followed for 3 consecutive days including the 2 sleep nights. In NS experiment, all participants were instructed to maintain NS both nights. During all nights, actigraphy data were collected and total sleep time was estimated. On days before and after sleep conditions, all participants underwent measurements of tactile detection threshold (TDT), interocclusal detection threshold (IDT), perception of unpleasantness (POU), and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS).
Results:
As expected, total sleep time on the first night in SR experiment was significantly shorter than on the second night in SR experiment and on the first night in NS experiment (P<0.05). ESS values on Day-2 following SR experiment were significantly higher than on Day-1 and Day-3 in SR experiment and Day-2 in NS experiment (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in TDT and IDT between each day at each measurement point in both experiments. POU was significantly lower on Day-2 in SR experiment than on Day-1 and Day-3 in SR experiment and on Day-2 in NS experiment (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
The present results suggest that SR affects to occlusal sensation related to POU.
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