Painful Stimulation and Transient Blocking of Nerve Transduction Due to Local Anesthesia Evoke Perceptual Distortions of the Face in Healthy Volunteers - 02/04/15
, Lilja Dagsdóttir †, ‡, Lene Vase ∗, Lene Baad-Hansen †, ‡, Eduardo Castrillon †, ‡, Andreas Roepstorff §, Troels Staehelin Jensen ¶, Peter Svensson †, ‡, ||Abstract |
Anecdotally, orofacial pain patients sometimes report that the painful face area feels “swollen.” Because there are no clinical signs of swelling, such illusions may represent perceptual distortions. In this study, we examine whether nociceptive stimulation can lead to perceptual distortion of the face in a way similar to that of local anesthesia. Sixteen healthy participants received injections of .4 mL hypertonic saline to induce short-term nociceptive stimulation, .4 mL mepivacaine (local anesthetic) to transiently block nerve transduction, and .4 mL isotonic saline as a control condition. Injections were administered in both the infraorbital and the mental nerve regions. Perceptual distortions were conceptualized as perceived changes in magnitude of the injected areas and the lips, and they were measured using 1) a verbal subjective rating scale and 2) a warping procedure. Prior to the study, participants filled in several psychological questionnaires. This study shows that both nociceptive stimulation (P < .05) and transient blocking of nerve transduction (P < .05) can lead to perceptual distortion of the face. A test-retest experiment including 9 new healthy subjects supported the results. Perceptual distortions were positively correlated with the psychological variable of dissociation in several conditions (P < .05). Perceptual distortions may therefore be influenced by somatosensory changes and psychological mechanisms.
Perspective |
Knowledge of the factors that influence the perception of the face is important to understand the possible implications of perceptual distortions in orofacial pain disorders (and possibly other chronic pain states). Such information may ultimately open up new avenues of treatment for persistent orofacial pain.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Highlights |
• | This study examines whether injections of hypertonic saline can lead to perceptual distortions of the face in healthy volunteers. |
• | Injections of isotonic saline into the infraorbital nerve region and the mental nerve region can lead to perceptual distortions. |
• | Perceptual distortions of the face might also be influenced by the psychological variable of dissociation, as indicated by the statistically significant correlations between perceptual distortions and dissociation measured using a set of psychological questionnaires. |
Key words : Dissociation, local anesthesia, orofacial pain, painful stimulation, perceptual distortions of the face
Plan
| The work was done at the Section of Clinical Oral Physiology, Department of Dentistry, Aarhus University, Denmark. |
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| The study was funded by a grant from Aarhus University (AU-IDEAS) of 500,000 Danish kroner. The research group was economically independent of the grant. Participants received financial compensation in terms of 100 Danish kroner/h, which was reported to the tax authorities. The authors have no conflict of interest. |
Vol 16 - N° 4
P. 335-345 - avril 2015 Retour au numéro
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