Orofacial sensation Flashcards
How do we perceive the world around us?
Through sensory stimuli.
The sensations can be preceve through general and special sensations
What are the importance of sensory preception?
- Sensation
- Control of movement
- Maintaining arousal/cortical consiousness - e.g. maintaining arousal when there is pain
- Safety - e.g. smell
- For future reference - brain recognition
- Emotions - e.g. self explanation
What are the main types of sensory receptor in the body?
- Photoreceptors - light
- Chemoreceptors - taste, smell, pH
- Thermoreceptors - temperature
- Mechanoreceptors - mechanical forces like touch, pressure, sound
- Nociceptors - pain
What are some of classification of sensory receptors based on speed of adaptation?
- Slowly adapting - slowly adapting receptors are related to nociception - think about tooth ache, the stimulus is continuous but also the receptor will be affected continuously - think about ongoing tooth ache
- Rapidly adapting - example is a mechanoreceptors relating to light touch - the response is quick but the touch perception is reduced quick - the sensation occurs only due to intial stimulus and reduction of stimulus
What are some of classification of sensory receptors based on speed of adaptation?
- Slowly adapting - slowly adapting receptors are related to nociception - think about tooth ache, the stimulus is continuous but also the receptor will be affected continuously - think about ongoing tooth ache
- Rapidly adapting - example is a mechanoreceptors relating to light touch - the response is quick but the touch perception is reduced quick - the sensation occurs only due to intial stimulus and reduction of stimulus
What are the classification of sensory receptors based on the source of the stimuli?
- Exteroceptors - provide information from the external environment - e.g. touch, pressure, temperature
- Enteroreceptos - provide information from the internal environment - blood pressure, plasma osmolality, blood pH
- Proprioceptors - provide information from the musculoskeletal system (position sense) - muscles, tendons and the joints
What is kinaesthesia?
It is the awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs (proprioceptors) in the muscles and joints.
What are the essential receptors for kinaesthesia?
- Exteroceptors: in eye, ear and skin
- Proprioceptors: in muscles, tendons and joints
What are some of exteroceptors located in the oral cavity?
- Receptors in the PDL
- Receptors in alveolar mucosa
- Receptors in gingiva
- Receptors in periosteum of the jaw bone
They inform about the external loading when for example we chew
What are some of the proprioceptors in the oral cavity?
- Muscle spindles in mastictory muscles
- TMJ spindles
What is the basic pathway pf sensory processing in the brain?
The simple model is:
1. Sensory input - stimuli
2. Integration - understanding of stimuli
3. Perception - feeling of a certain sense
4. Motor response
What is the basic pathway of the stimulus to the somatic sensory area in the brain?
- Stimulus detected by receptors
- The signal is propogated via the sensory nerve by ascending sensory pathway
- The stimulus reaches the somatic sensory area in the brain
How does the sensory information travel from the teeth?
The information from the teeth and supporting structures transmitted to the brain via the trigeminal nerve.
In certain situations, the infromation transmitted from different teeth may converge into the same secondary neruon from the primary neuron thus the brain may process the pain sensation as non-localised thus localisation of pain could be a clinical problem .
Please explain the pain and temperature pathway of the spinal trigeminal tract?
- Intial stimulus occurs
- Primary neuron caries the signal from the sensory ogran to the trigeminal ganglion
- From the trigeminal ganglion, primary neuron carries it below to the spinal trigeminal nucleus where a cross over occurs and the signal it transducted to the secondary nucleus
- The secondary neuron through the ventral trigeminal leminscus and crus cerebri
- The final transduction to the ventral posteromedial nuceleus and later the signal is transducted to postcentral gyrus
Please explain the touch pathway of the sensory trigeminal tract?
- Initial stimulus occurs
- Primary neuron caries the signal to the trigemina ganglion
- After, the primary neruon caries the signal to the main sensory trigeminal nucleus where transductio of the signal occurs to the secondary neuron
- The secondary neuron propogates the signal through the crus cerebri towars the intralaminar nuclei
- The final transduction to the intralaminar nuclei and later the signal is transducted to postcentral gyrus
Why is the oral cavity one of the most densely innervated parts of the body?
- It is linked to the key role of oral sensorimotor control of the oral motor functions
- Mouth contains a large range of different tissue types in close proximity and constant interaction
- Oral sensations provide an important interface experience: internal and external surface of the body
What are the types of principal somatosensory receptors that are innervating the oral tissues?
- Mechanoreceptors that detect touch - mostly A-beta receptors but sometimes also C type receptors
- Nociceptors that detect pain and temperature changes - A-delta and C receptors
What is the importance of periodontal mechanoreceptors in clinical prectice?
They enable patients to detect new restoration which are high in occlusion
What is the purpose of TMJ receptors?
They function as pain receptors and proprioceptors. They may act as velocity detectors and static-position of the TMJ detectors.
How do we know that the tongue is so sensitive?
Because during two-point discrimination test, the tongue can detect 2 distinct points at around 1.4mm distance between them.
This sensitivity is related to tongue function and can be damped with local anaesthetics.
Tongue is also very very sensitive to temperature changes especially o n the dorsum area.