INFLUENCE OF CHEWING PROCESS ON HEMODYNAMIC INDICATORS

Chewing has been shown to have a significant effect on systemic circulation, with circulatory responses appearing to be largely regulated by autonomic nervous activity through a more complex regulatory system than responses to other activities. However, the results of studies on the relationship between masticatory movements and changes in autonomic nervous activity and systemic circulation are still rare and contradictory. We examined changes in systemic circulation during gum chewing. Blood pressure, heart rate, and chewing electromyograms were recorded during continuous gum chewing as indicators of systemic circulation in 27 healthy subjects with normal occlusion. Nonparametric matched-sample analyzes were performed to determine the chronological changes in each variable during gum chewing, and nonparametric Spearman correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between changes in hemodynamic parameters and masticatory muscle activity. Chewing gum increased heart rate and blood pressure, indicating significant changes in sympathetic activity and vagal tone. We have identified a pronounced, statistically significant strong correlation between changes in heart rate and the magnitude of contractions of the masticatory muscles. These results suggest that changes in the activity of parts of the autonomic nervous system may be due to the trigeminal nerve reflex, which explains some of the features of the autonomic nervous regulation of chewing movements.