Functional MRI of Mastication

We tried to depict the brain activity of mastication (two types of movement) with functional MRI (FID type EPI with fat saturation on 1.5T). Thirteen of 16 volunteers (81.3%) showed proper signal changes on primary motor cortex. The active sites changed according to the type of masticating movement. We concluded that functional MRI can be used investigate the control of mastication in the CNS.