Bite force and pattern measurements for dental pain assessment in the rat

Department

Orthodontics

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Neuroscience Letters

ISSN

0304-3940

Volume

447

Issue

2--3

DOI

10.1016/j.neulet.2008.10.008

First Page

175

Last Page

178

Publication Date

12-1-2008

Abstract

We present simple method to assess dental pain in the awake rat. Using a sensitive strain gauge we examined changes in bite strength and bite pattern in rats following dental injury. Rats with dental injury displayed a significant reduction in mean peak bite strength and an altered bite cluster pattern. Both changes in the dental injury rats were reversed by an analgesic dose of morphine, and this could be reversed with naloxone. These changes were not observed in naive control animals. This simple method significantly improves our ability to evaluate dental pain syndromes.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS