Some subjective-experiential parameters in experimental tooth clenching in man.

Experimental tooth clenching was performed by fourteen human subjects in order to determine the onset of the subjective sensations of jaw muscle fatigue and jaw muscle pains, the ability to endure jaw muscle pains, and other discomforts. During production of maximal voluntary isometric tension by the elevator jaw muscles the fatigue threshold (x = 31 s), the pain threshold (x = 55 s), and the pain tolerance (x = 118 s) of tooth clenching did not vary significantly intraindividually, whereas this was so interindividually. There might have existed psychological relationships between the three parameters, but they might also have been influenced by the same physiological cause. The weak to intense discomforts were localized to the face, and primarily to the jaw muscles, and after determination of the pain tolerance they disappeared in about 90 s.