Propagation of the High Frequency Component Caused by the Impact on the Tooth.

The influence of mechanical stimulation on the human body is extremely important. It was hypothesized that if natural vibration of the tooth is propagated to other sites of the body, this stimulation willhave an effect on those sites as well. The purpose of this study was to investigate the propagation of naturalvibration of the tooth. The impact exerted on the tooth by repeated hard jaw tapping movement was recordedon the upper canine, and propagated vibrations were recorded at the chin, zygomatic bone, forehead, vertebraprominens and clavicula. An accelerometer was used to record the vibrations. Except for clavicula, naturalvibration of the tooth in all subjects was recorded. The amplitude and duration time of the propagatedvibration were found to be greatest at the chin, followed, in descending order, by the zygomatic bone, forehead, and vertebra prominens. The pattern of power spectrum varied between recording sites. These findingssuggested that natural vibration of the tooth may influence the functions of the cells in the head and neck, andthe influence will vary with distance from the teeth and differences in the structure between the tooth andpropagated sites.