GENERAL SENSATION IN THE

ORAL CAVITY

Oral Physiology
Dent 207
 Oral mucosal sensations
 Touch
 Pressure
 Temperature
 Pain
 Stereogenesis
 Ability to detect the shape of objects
 Proprioception - Kinesthesia
 Sense of movement & position of limbs & other body parts
 Role of muscle spindles
 Special sensation – taste
 Touch & pressure
 Aβ & Aδ fibers (group II & III sensory
neurons)
 Cell bodies in trigeminal ganglion
 Secondary neurons convey signals to the other
side of the brainstem
 Then to thalamus & cortes
 Area of mouth on
somatosensory
cortex
 Lower part of
postcentral gyrus
 A large area – high
degree of sensitivity
 Lip area on cortex
are disproportionate
to their actual size >
thumb area
 Temperature sensation
 Oral mucosa is very sensitive to hot & cold
 Protective mechanism
 Receptors
 Bare nerve endings
 Respond to temps > threshold (hot) & < threshold
(cold)
 Skin or lip temp receptors’ threshold = temp of
skin (25°C)
 Intraoral receptors have higher thresholds
 Temperature sensation
 Fibers are A δ & C fibers (sensory groups III
& IV
 Slow transmitting
 In brain - no separate pathway to cortex for temp
& pain sensation
 In Spinal cord – separate pathway exists
 Impulses reach thalamus through
trigeminothalamic tract (trigeminal laminscus)
Temperature sensation – regional
 Max. tolerable temp in mouth = 70 – 80°C
 Lip cannot detect temp – pain instead due to tissue damage
 Tongue less sensitive than lips
 Palate may blister at lower temps
 Hot stimuli on tongue – tissue damage – stimulation
of cold & warmth receptors
 Not reported elsewhere in the body
 Pain is the only sensation detected in teeth
 Evidence that heat may be discriminated
 Pressure sensation
 Teeth are sensitive to pressure applied axially or laterally
 Stimulation of receptors in periodontal ligament
 Receptors
 End-organs of the Ruffini type
 A class of slowly adapting mechanoreceptor thought to exist only in the
glabrous dermis and subcutaneous tissue of humans
 Nerve fibers are Aβ
 Response vary according to position with PDL
 Teeth respond as if they have axis of rotation between middle
& apical 1/3s of root
 Receptors near axis of rotation adapt rapidly
 Receptors furthest away adapt slowly
 Proprioception
 Impulses from
 Muscles of the tongue
 Muscles of mastication
 Temporomandibular joint
 Muscles containing muscle spindles
 Tongue muscles
 Mandibular elevators
 Cell bodies of fibers are in mesencephalic
nucleus of trigeminal nerve
 Taste
 Special sensation
 Chemoreception perceived directly in the
cortex
 Parasympathetic
 Travel with branches of trigeminal nerve
 Receptors are only in the head region
 Dorsum of the tongue
 Soft palate
 Epiglottis
 Pharyngeal wall
 Esophagus
 Significant of taste
 Taste is the main stimulant to saliva flow
 Governs the use of oral hygiene aids like
toothpastes
 Governs food choice – sweet – cariogenic
 Taste buds
 Each bud is a group of taste receptors
 Develop early in fetal life
 Circumvallate form by 14 weeks in utero
 Taste buds on the tongue
 Tongue is derived from 2
branchial arches
 Anterior 2/3s from 1st arch
 Filiform – rarely have buds
 Fungiform – buds on surface
 Foliate
 Buds are on lateral walls of
their ridges
 1500 buds
 Circumvallate
 Location
 Number of buds
 250 – 300 buds on each of
10 – 12 papillae
 Decrease with age – loss of
taste sensitivity
 Von Ebner’s glands
 Posterior 1/3 from 3rd arch
 Regional distribution of different
taste sensations
 Types of taste perception
 Salt – facial nerve area
 Sweet – facial nerve area
 Acid – facial nerve area
 Bitter – buds in glossopharyngeal innervation area
 Dorsum is more sensitive to acid & bitter stimuli
 Old people complain of decreased taste sensation
 Bitter taste is not affected
 So – not related to decreased population of buds on
circumvallate papillae
 In denture wearers palate is covered
 Taste bud cells
 Epithelial cells
 Subject to turnover 2 -30 days
 Types I, II, III, IV
 Nerve fibers
 Lose myelination after entering the bud
 End adjacent to epithelial cells
 In invaginations of type I
 Coiled round type II
 Synapting with type III
 Taste pore contains (pore substance)
 Cell tips
 Gel-like material
 Ascorbic acid
 Enzymes
 Type I (dark cells)
 At periphery of the bud
 2/3s of cells
 End at the bud pore with microvilli
 Separated by basement membrane from pore
substance
 Apical granules - claimed to secrete the pore
substance
 Basal end reach down to the basement membrane
 Have lateral extensions extending across the other
cells & verve fibrils
 Invaginated apical nucleus
 Type II (light cells)
 Thicker microvilli
 Contain a number of vesicles
 Smooth-walled apical nucleus
 20% of bud cells
 Do not reach apical basement membrane
 Do not show any synaptic-like features
 Type III & IV
 Type III
 Slender peg-like cells
 No microvilli
 Appear to synapse with adjacent nerve fibers
 Type IV (progenitor cells)
 Progenitor for the other 3 types of cells
 Sensory mechanism of taste
 Sapid: substances stimulating taste sensation
 Gustation: process involved in taste perception
 Sapid
 Must be in solution
 React with pore contects & bud cells (taste
receptors)
 Gustation theory
 Old theory - Inhibition or potentiation of the
pore enzymes – changes in receptor cells
 More acceptable theories
 Changes in membrane permeability of receptor
cells or nerve fibers resulting from binding of
excitatory substances – action potential
 Evidence - linear relationship between conc.of sapid &
frequency of action potential in the gustatory nerve
 Gustatory pathways
 Autonomic pathways
 Small myelinated slowly-conducting axons
 Synapse at nucleus of tractus solitarius
 2° neurons cross midline in medial lamniscus
– thalamus -
 3° neurons - lower part of postcentral gyrus
 Classification of taste
 Henning: 4 types of taste
 Salt, sweet, sour, bitter
 Used in testing taste sensitivity
 They didn’t talk about modalities of taste but
extremes of taste type (corners of taste tetrahedron
 All tastes being inside the tetrahedron
 Alkaline or metallic taste are not taste categories
 Taste buds vary in sensitivity
 A few respond to one taste modality
 Most respond to more than one
 One modality is dominant
 Acid taste
 Acid taste – hydrogen ions – blocks K
channels – depolarization
 Inorganic acids taste metallic
 Organic acids taste fruity
 Salt taste
 Stimulation of receptors by cations
 Gustant type is NaCl
 NaF tastes less salty
 In low conc. sweet instead of salty
 Potassium chloride
 Potassium sulphate
 Possible theory: opening of Na channels –
depolarization
 Sweet taste
 Chemical similarity between sweet & bitter sapid materials
 Gustant type is sucrose
 Other substances
 Some amino acids
 Lead acetate
 Chloroform
 Saccharin
 Cyclamate
 Sucrose is not desirable – cariogenic
 Non-cariogenic sweeteners
 Sugar alcohol – sorbitol, xylitol
 Common chemical feature of sweet taste-producing materials
 Covalent hydrogen bond loosely attached to a second group with a long
distance
 Binds to a mirror image conformation on the receptor membrane – closure of K
channels – depolarization
 Bitter taste
 Type gustant is quinine
 Has a therapeutic value
 Used in many alkaline drinks
 Other stimulant sapid materials
 Alkaloids
 Glycosides
 Picric acid
 Nitrus & sulphide groups
 Mg sulphate
 Calcium oxide
 Bitter tasting substances are harmful/poisonous – taste is used as a warning
in animals
 Common chemical feature of bitter taste-producing substances
 Covalent hydrogen bond loosely attached to a second group with a shorter
distance
 Cellular mechanism of stimulation is not well-understood
 Flavor
 The total sensation induced when a particular
foodstuff is introduced into the mouth
 Taste is a major component of flavor
 Flavor depends on simultaneous stimulation of
 Olfaction
 If olfaction is blocked, tasting some flavors can be difficult
 Touch receptors in the palate
 e.g. flavor of alginate due to texture
 Reactions to irritants on the lingual surface
 Mustard, chilly, pepper & ginger stimulate nociceptors of
trigeminal nerve - hot flavor
 Adaptation of taste perception
 Adaptation if stimulation continued
 e. g. decreased perception of sweetness food eaten
after another
 More central level of being accustomed to
different levels of sweetness
 Sweetness is considered as “acquired”
 Absent or weakly presents in infants
Factors affecting taste perception
 Oral temperature
 Cold – reduction in receptor ability
 Ice-cream need to be more sweet than hot desserts to be acceptably sweet
 Combinations of gustants
 Resulting perception is hard to explain
 Hormones
 Age – reduction in taste perception
 Genetic factors
 Deprivation from salt - Low threshold to NaCl
 Dehydration – high threshold to NaCl
 Beneficial modification (getting the body need of salt)
 Cigarette smoking
 Diminish taste perception to all kind of taste
 Increase bitter taste
 Local anesthesia
 Salt & sweet tastes are reduced
 Taste sensation is abolished to bitter, then salt, acid & sweet