Tooth Loss and Brain Changes : Intracortical Microstimulation Analysis Of Rat Motor Cortex Following Maxillary Molar Extraction

The aim of this study is to determine if neuroplastic changes occur in the rat face motor cortex (Face-M1) following extraction of maxillary molars. Materials and Methods: 19 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into Naive (n=6), Sham Extraction (n=7) and Extraction (n=6) groups. No treatment was rendered to the Naive group, but the Sham Extraction group underwent general anaesthesia and soft tissue manipulation around all right maxillary molars, whereas the Extraction group underwent general anaesthesia, soft tissue manipulation and extraction of all right maxillary molars. A week after surgical intervention, intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) experiments were carried out to map the contralateral Face-M1 and compare the histologically verified ICMS representations of the left anterior digastric (LAD), right anterior digastric (RAD), and genioglossus (GG) in the three groups. The observed changes were analyzed using oneway ANOVA and post-hoc Bonferroni adjusted pairwise comparisons.