Analgesic Effects of Peripheral Conditioning Stimulation-II. Importance of Certain Stimulation Parameters

Abstract

German

French

The pain threshold effects in teeth, generally described in a previous paper, are related to certain parameters of the conditioning stimulation. A strong low frequency stimulation (2/sec) giving pronounced beating sensations and powerful muscle contractions is needed to produce any significant threshold increase and no changes of the threshold were found at low intensities. At repeated stimulation sessions the subjects were acquainted with the sensations of the strong stimuli and could accept higher conditioning intensities producing a more pronounced threshold increase. At the same conditioning strength the threshold effects were well reproducible. The threshold increase was related to the localization of the conditioning stimulation. Stimulation of the cheeks gave a threshold increase of teeth of both upper and lower jaws but stimulation of hands produced an increase of the pain threshold of the teeth only as an exception although it delayed the decline of a threshold increase obtained by stimulation of cheeks. Experiments performed during dental treatment including drilling of the teeth indicate a correlation between the obtained threshold increase and clinical analgesia.

Keywords

Pain threshold Tooth pulp Electro-acupuncture Segmental input High threshold afferents

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