Sensorimotor Control in Orofacial Functions

Sensorimotor control in orofacial functions encompasses the integration of sensory feedback from mechanoreceptors, muscle spindles and cutaneous receptors with central motor commands to regulate movements of the jaw, tongue and facial musculature. Precise timing and force modulation during chewing, biting and intraoral manipulation rely on both brainstem reflex circuits and higher cortical centres that implement feedforward and feedback control. Periodontal mechanoreceptors provide critical real-time data on tooth–food interaction, enabling rapid adjustment of jaw muscle activity as recorded by electromyography. Adaptive plasticity within the trigeminal pathways allows compensation for altered sensory environments, such as after dental implant placement or local anaesthesia. Clinically, understanding these processes informs rehabilitation strategies for patients with orofacial dysfunction, neurological injury or prosthetic rehabilitation, and guides the development of diagnostic tools and neuroprosthetic devices.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that removal of sensory inputs from periodontal mechanoreceptors, as occurs in patients with implant-supported bridges, attenuates the late-phase excitatory drive of the masseter muscle during the closing phase of mastication, underlining the role of mechanoreceptive feedback in force augmentation. Transient local anaesthesia of tooth afferents has been shown to impair precision in intraoral food manipulation tasks, revealing the contribution of periodontal feedback to fine motor control without substantially altering gross jaw kinematics. Further work on repeated oral motor tasks has uncovered dynamic dissociations between accuracy and precision with training, indicating neuroplastic adaptation in both controlled and ballistic force production by orofacial muscles.

Sensorimotor Control in Orofacial Functions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in sensorimotor control in orofacial functions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Periodontal mechanoreceptors (PMRs): specialised sensory receptors in the periodontal ligament that detect mechanical forces during tooth contact.

Electromyography (EMG): a technique for recording electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles during activation.

Neuroplasticity: the capacity of the nervous system to adapt its structure and function in response to experience or injury.

Masticatory performance: the effectiveness of chewing, typically quantified by the breakdown of food particles.

Orofacial afferent inputs: sensory signals transmitted from the oral and facial tissues to central neural circuits.

References

1. Excitatory drive of masseter muscle during mastication with dental implants. Scientific Reports (2018).
2. Perturbed oral motor control due to anesthesia during intraoral manipulation of food. Scientific Reports (2017).
3. Training-induced dynamics of accuracy and precision in human motor control. Scientific Reports (2017).
4. Development and validation of an AI-driven tool to evaluate chewing function: a proof of concept. Journal of Dentistry (2024).
5. Motor control strategies during unpredictable force control tasks in humans. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation (2020).