Pöllmann L, Harris P H
Int J Chronobiol. 1978;5(3):459-64.
In 136 healthy men, circadian variations in pain threshold have been observed in healthy front teeth, the pain being elicited by a cold stimulus, alterations in threshold then being inferred from changes in the minimum cold application time. The pain threshold is maximal in the early afternoon and at a minimum in the early morning. In previous experiments using an electrical current as the pain stimulus, a similar diurnal variation of sensitivity was also observed. These results conform with clinical experience of the time of onset of toothache, and are also in accord with known diurnal variations of pain sensitivity in other organs. Further studies were carried out on one subject. The minimum cold application time test was performed over more than 3 years on a healthy front tooth. The results suggest a circannual rhythm of the pain threshold, with a maximum in October/November and a minimum in May.
在136名健康男性中，观察到健康前门牙疼痛阈值的昼夜变化，通过冷刺激引发疼痛，然后根据最短冷刺激应用时间的变化推断阈值变化。疼痛阈值在午后早期最高，在清晨最低。在之前使用电流作为疼痛刺激的实验中，也观察到了类似的昼夜敏感性变化。这些结果与牙痛发作时间的临床经验相符，也与其他器官已知的疼痛敏感性昼夜变化一致。对一名受试者进行了进一步研究。在一颗健康前门牙上进行了超过3年的最短冷刺激应用时间测试。结果表明疼痛阈值存在年度节律，10月/11月最高，5月最低。
