Brain stem reflexes: Probing human trigeminal nociception

Although many people suffer from orofacial pain and headache, objective met hods for investigation of trigeminal nociception in humans have been lackin g. Trigeminal brainstem reflexes such as the masseter inhibitory reflex and the blink reflex are mediated by central multireceptive neurons that are a lso involved in trigeminal nociception. Therefore, these trigeminal reflexe s are suitable models for probing pontine and medullary pain processing.