Dental pain and sleep. Experimental study on guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus).

The relationship between pain and sleep was studied by using electrocorticograms (ECoG) taken from guinea pigs submitted to noxious stimulation (NS) of the dental pulp of the upper incisors, after local application of serotonin (5-HT) to the obex (a brain region inductive to sleep). The results showed that the dental electrical stimulation of the sleepy animal was capable of keeping this animal in a state of vigilance and excitation, suggesting that the trigeminal system probably acts on the sleep regulating centers.