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Inferior alveolar nerve injury following orthognathic surgery: a review of assessment issues
Author(s) -
PHILLIPS C.,
ESSICK G.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2842.2010.02176.x
Subject(s) - inferior alveolar nerve , orthognathic surgery , sensory system , medicine , stimulus (psychology) , trigeminal nerve , nerve injury , sensory nerve , facial nerve , quantitative sensory testing , neuroscience , psychology , anatomy , anesthesia , surgery , dentistry , cognitive psychology , molar
Summary The sensory branches of the trigeminal nerve encode information about facial expressions, speaking and chewing movements, and stimuli that come into contact with the orofacial tissues. Whatever the cause, damage to the inferior alveolar nerve negatively affects the quality of facial sensibility as well as the patient’s ability to translate patterns of altered nerve activity into functionally meaningful motor behaviours. There is no generally accepted, standard method of estimating sensory disturbances in the distribution of the inferior alveolar nerve following injury. Assessment of sensory alterations can be conducted using three types of measures: (i) objective electrophysiological measures of nerve conduction, (ii) sensory testing (stimulus) measures and (iii) patient report. Each type of measure with advantages and disadvantages for use are reviewed.