[Reflex activity of the elevator muscles of the human mandible: electromyographic study]

In this study of global electromyography, of the masseter and anterior temporal muscles of man, the stimulus used was the mechanical percussion of the chin, the results being recorded on an oscilloscope. The twenty-two subjects used presented no sign of pathology after clinical examination. On the same subject, for one given muscle, the reflex was identically reproduced. The latency time was a very constant parameter; 7,8 ms for the masseter muscle and 10 ms for the temporal muscle. These values are not significantly different from one another. They are compared to those obtained by other authors. On the other hand, the reflex response of the anterior temporal muscle can present a particular pattern comparable with that of the trigemino-facial reflex.