Deficits in orofacial sensorimotor function in Parkinson's disease.

Orofacial sensorimotor function was assessed in patients with Parkinson's disease and in age-matched controls. Tests were designed to assess sensory function, motor abilities, and the integration of sensory information for the performance of specific movements. Patients with Parkinson's disease and normal subjects both made more errors with increasing age; however, overall, patients with Parkinson's disease made significantly more errors in our tests than did normal subjects. Interestingly, patients with Parkinson's disease showed greater deficits in tests of sensory function and sensorimotor integration than in tests of motor function. These results suggest that one aspect of Parkinson's disease consists of complex deficits in the utilization of specific sensory inputs to organize and guide movements. The results are further discussed in relation to a proposed sensory gating or filtering schema of basal ganglia motor functioning.