CHEWING
THE GUM SINCE THE MORNING, AS SELF-MEDICATION.
By Renato
Cocchi, MD.
There are
always many persons, mainly young ones, who chew the gum since the morning. Having
often asked, I had even the answer that it is also relaxing behaviour. It
happens too that the same persons have known, from the consort or from their
dentist, that they have nighttime bruxism.
Chewing
the gum has a consummating action that can reduce the tension of the
masticatory muscles. This is a self-medication the subject puts into practice
although not aware of it.
The
hypertone of the masticatory muscles is a stress symptom, with probable local
excess of acetylcholine.
The
consummation lack of the brain glutamate during the sleep, for reduction of the
sensory afferences, could drive to partly understanding of this symptom. An
other part of it could instead be creditable to the low turnover of the brain
acetylcholine, always during the sleep, with reduction of the choline uptake
across the blood-brain barrier. So it could lead to greater peripheral
synthesis of it, due increased availability of its precursor.
Posted on internet on April 2003. Copyright by Renato Cocchi, 2003