Influence of gum‐chewing on the haemodynamics in female masseter muscle

Summary  Blood flow in active skeletal muscles provides energy substrate, oxygen and reduction of excessive heat and metabolic by‐products. Although cyclic jaw motions such as those during mastication and speech articulation are the primitive oro‐facial functions, possible effects of the cyclic muscle contractions on the intramuscular haemodynamics of the jaw muscles remains scarcely known. We investigated the masseteric haemodynamics during and after gum‐chewing. Ten healthy female adults participated in the study. Electromyography, kinetics of masseter muscle oxygenation, electrocardiogram and blood pressure were recorded simultaneously. The subjects were asked to perform gum‐chewing and cyclic jaw motion without gum bolus (empty‐chewing task). The haemodynamics parameters were compared between the two experimental conditions. During gum‐chewing task, deoxygenated haemoglobin and sympathetic nerve activity increased, while tissue blood oxygen saturation decreased. Blood pressure and parasympathetic nerve activity did not change. The overall behaviour of haemodynamic parameters during empty‐chewing task was similar to that observed during gum‐chewing task. However, the latency periods from the end of chewing until significant changes in the haemodynamic parameters were notably shorter ( P  < 0·05) in gum‐chewing task as compared with those associated with empty‐chewing task. The duration of the changes was shorter with empty‐chewing than with gum‐chewing. Fluctuations in masseter muscle haemodynamics associated with chewing jaw movement differed depending on the level of muscle contraction during movement. The differences became statistically significant immediately after the commencement of chewing and after the cessation movement. During the chewing movement, automatic nerve activities increased in response to the level of muscle contraction during movement.