Comparisons of the sensation perceived and intradental nerve activity following temperature changes in human teeth.

The relationship between the intradental nerve responses and subjective sensory ratings evoked by thermal stimulation of the teeth was studied in man. Recordings were taken from a total of 12 thermally sensitive units from the inferior dental nerve following thermal tooth stimulation, of which seven responded to both heating and cooling, two were exclusively cold-sensitive and three exclusively heat-sensitive. The early and late sensory responses following both cold and heat stimulation of the tooth were observed. The late sensory responses were more unstable than the early sensory responses. The mean threshold of the early sensory responses to tooth cooling was 13.6 +/- 1.9 degrees C (n = 9) and that to heat stimulation was 48.4 +/- 4.8 degrees C (n = 10). The firing frequency of the heat-sensitive, but not the cold-sensitive, units increased linearly in proportion to the increase in magnitude of the early sensory ratings.