Deglutitive movement of the tongue under local anesthesia

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether or not sensory input from the tongue affects deglutitive tongue movement. Subjects were se ven healthy volunteers with anesthetic applied to the surface of the tongue (surface group) and seven healthy volunteers with the lingual nerve blocke d by anesthetic (blocked group). We established six stages in deglutition a nd analyzed deglutitive tongue movement and the time between the respective stages by cineradiography before and after anesthesia. After anesthesia in both surface and blocked groups, deglutitive tongue movement slowed and bo lus movement was delayed. The deglutitive tongue tip retreated in the block ed group. These results suggest that delay of tongue movement by anesthesia causes weak bolus propulsion and that deglutitive tongue tip position is a ffected by sensory deprivation of the tongue or the region innervated by th e inferior alveolar nerve.