Cakmak Yusuf Ozgur, Ozdogmus Omer, Günay Yumusan, Gürbüzer Bahadır, Tezulaş Emre, Kaspar Elif Ciğdem, Hacıoglu Hüsniye
Department of Anatomy, Rumelifeneri Campus, School of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Forsch Komplementmed. 2014;21(2):94-8. doi: 10.1159/000362140. Epub 2014 Mar 28.
The gag reflex is a frequent problem occurring during dental treatment procedures, especially while making impressions of the maxillary teeth. The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a simple earplug as an external auditory canal stimulator to supress the profound gag reflex and as a second step, to map areas of the oropharynx suppressed by this technique.
In the first step of the study, 90 patients who had a gag reflex during the impression procedure were allocated to a study group, a sham group, and a control group for evaluating the efficacy of the earplug technique. Second, 20 new patients with a gag reflex were included in order to map the oropharnygeal areas suppressed by this technique.
The severity of the gag reflex was reduced in the earplug group (but not in the sham or the control group). The affected area included the hard palate, uvula, and the tongue but not the posterior wall of oropharynx.
An earplug technique can be a useful, practical, and effective tool to overcome the gag reflex during oral procedures, such as impression procedures of maxillary teeth.
咽反射是牙科治疗过程中常见的问题，尤其是在上颌牙齿取印模时。本研究旨在评估一种简单耳塞作为外耳道刺激器抑制严重咽反射的效果，并进一步绘制受该技术抑制的口咽区域。
在研究的第一步，将90名在取印模过程中有咽反射的患者分为研究组、假手术组和对照组，以评估耳塞技术的效果。其次，纳入20名有咽反射的新患者，以绘制受该技术抑制的口咽区域。
耳塞组的咽反射严重程度降低（假手术组和对照组未降低）。受影响区域包括硬腭、悬雍垂和舌头，但不包括口咽后壁。
耳塞技术可以成为克服口腔操作（如上颌牙齿取印模）过程中咽反射的有用、实用且有效的工具。
