Many people chew gum partly due to the belief that it increases aspects of mental performance, including concentration. To the best of our knowledge no empirical evidence exists to support this contention. The present experiment, therefore, examined the effects of chewing gum using a comprehensive and sensitive cognitive assessment battery and two tasks manipulating cognitive load. Heart rate r...

Habitual chewing of a coherent bolus was studied in 12 dentate subjects with painful mandibular-joint disorders and 12 healthy, dentate controls. Bilateral electromyograms of jaw elevators, and jaw movement, were recorded for three complete masticatory sequences. Computer analysis was used to classify chewing movements as continuous or discontinuous. Root-mean-square (r.m.s.), myoelectric signa...

Paralytic ileus after abdominal surgery causes abdominal distention, pain, accumulation of gas, nausea and vomiting. Chewing gum can increase bowel movements and reduce the transient period of paralysis. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of gum chewing in the reduction of paralytic ileus following cholecystectomy. This interventional study was conducted on 40 patients underg...

Motor cortex transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to enhance motor learning in healthy adults as well as various neurological conditions. However, there has been limited data on whether tDCS enhances jaw motor performance during different oral behaviors such as speech, maximum syllable repetition, and chewing. Because the effects of anodal and cathodal stimulation are k...

Intra-oral prey processing (chewing) using the mandibular jaws occurs more extensively among teleost fishes than previously documented. The lack of muscle spindles, gamma-motoneurons and periodontal afferents in fishes makes them useful for testing hypotheses regarding the relationship between these sensorimotor components and rhythmic chewing in vertebrates. Electromyography (EMG) data from th...

This paper presents VaqUoT – a University of Toronto tool for vacuity detection, built on top of NuSMV. In one model-checking pass, VaqUoT establishes the truth value of a CTL formula as well as the largest set of nonoverlapping subformulas in which that formula is vacuous. We describe the tool and evaluate its performance. During model-checking, properties are sometimes satisfied by models for...

J Korean Assoc Oral Maxillofac Surg 2012;38:379-83) Oromandibular dystonia (OMD) is a rare focal form of dystonia caused by prolonged muscles spasms in the mouth, face, and jaw. OMD can develop after dental treatment, as poorly aligned dentures or multiple tooth extraction may cause an impairment of proprioception in the oral cavity, leading to the subsequent development of dystonia. These repe...

Structure and movement of the tongue have been studied extensively, but little study has been carried on its 3D deformation and ensuing volumetric changes during various functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the volumetric changes of a regional section of the tongue during feeding. Four 12-week-old Yucatan miniature pigs were used. During natural mastication and water drinking,...