Directional sensitivity of human periodontal mechanoreceptive afferents to forces applied to the teeth.

1. Single-unit impulse activity from thirty-eight mechanoreceptive afferent fibres was recorded in the human inferior alveolar nerve using tungsten microelectrodes. All afferents responded to mechanical stimulation of the teeth and most likely supplied periodontal mechanoreceptors. 2. All afferents showed their highest sensitivity to forces applied to a particular tooth (the lower incisors, the canine or the first premolar). Forces with 'ramp-and-hold' shaped profiles of similar magnitudes were applied to that tooth in the following six directions: lingual, labial, mesial and distal in the horizontal plane, and up and down in the axial direction of the tooth. Both static and dynamic response components were analysed. 3. All afferents were 'slowly adapting' since they discharged continuously in response to static forces in at least one stimulation direction. Twenty-five afferents (66%) were spontaneously active in the sense that they showed an on-going discharge in the absence of external stimulation. 4. Diverse receptive fields were observed. Most afferents (74%) responded to static forces in two or three of the four horizontal directions. Likewise, all units showed excitatory responses to axial loading with a majority (74%) responding in one of the two axial directions and the remainder in both axial directions. Spontaneously active afferents generally decreased their discharge rate when stimulated in directions opposite to the directions exciting the afferent. With regard to population responses, approximately half of the afferents showed excitatory responses to each stimulus direction except for downwards, in which 86% responded. 5. Twenty-three afferents (61%) exhibited the strongest response to forces in one of the horizontal directions. Of those, a majority were most responsive to the lingual direction (52%) and some to the labial direction (30%). Accordingly, the discharge rates during force application averaged over the whole afferent sample were highest in these directions. Of the remaining afferents, most responsive to one of the axial directions, 60% showed their strongest responses to forces in the downward direction. 6. Forty-five per cent of the afferents showed wider receptive fields to the dynamic component of the force stimulation than to the static. The direction of maximal sensitivity, however, remained the same with few exceptions. 7. It was demonstrated that even though individual periodontal mechanoreceptive afferents provide ambiguous information regarding the direction of a force applied to a tooth, populations of such afferents are well suited to give detailed directional information. It is suggested that such information may play an important role for the control of mastication.