Gum chewing and jaw muscle fatigue and pains

To study possible associations between gum chewing and fatigue and pains in the jaw muscles, eight healthy adults performed prolonged idling, prolonged unilateral chewing of gum, and brief vigorous clenching of the teeth (MVC). Through surface electromyography (EMG), the authors monitored the cumulative (microV.s) as well as the average rates (microV.s-1) of contractile activities in the right and left masseter muscles. During 10 min of idling there was an absence of muscle fatigue and muscle pains when the EMG rates of the right and left masseter muscles were 2% and 3%, respectively, of those required to elicit isometric muscle pains through MVC. During 10 min of right-sided gum chewing at a rate of 1.2 Hz, the majority of subjects (75%) experienced weak jaw muscle fatigue-not jaw muscle pains-when the EMG rates of the right and left masseter muscles were 38% and 19%, respectively, of those required to elicit isometric pains through MVC. In comparison with 10 min of idling, the weak muscle fatigue of 10 min of unilateral gum chewing appeared when the total contractile activities of the right and left masseter muscles were increased by 1664% and 519%, respectively. It seemed as if prolonged unilateral gum chewing and previous pain-releasing MVC caused some sensitization of muscle nociceptors which, in turn, aggravated subsequent isometric jaw muscle pains elicited through MVC. Even though the right masseter muscle was the most frequent site of clinical fatigue and pains, the authors found no evidence supporting the theoretical foundation of the myofascial pain/dysfunction syndrome.