Interactive periodontal and acoustic influences on the masseteric post-stimulus electromyographic complex in man

Post-stimulus electromyogram (EMG) complexes (PSECs) were studied in the full-wave rectified and averaged EMGs of the masseter muscles in 15 subjects, who clenched at a controlled level. The PSECs, a series of downward- and upward-going waves reflecting inhibitory and excitatory influences upon the masseteric motoneurones, were elicited by mechanical stimulation of a tooth. The stimuli selectively activated mechanoreceptors in the periodontium and, by bone-conduction, acoustic receptors. Application of acoustic masking during the periods of stimulation revealed a series of inhibitory and excitatory acoustic influences in the PSEC, which were absent after local electrical stimulation of receptors in the periodontium or their afferents. By applying local anaesthesia to the periodontium of a mechanically stimulated tooth, the durations of the acoustic influences were on the average reduced by 76%. In subjects whose PSECs consistently included a second inhibitory period, the duration of the acoustic influences with respect to that of the PSEC (30%) was larger than otherwise (13%), suggesting a central gating of periodontal pathways which can block both periodontal and acoustic influences. The acoustic influences, of which the appearance in the PSEC largely depends upon activated periodontal pathways, represent a new finding of audio-motor reflexes.