To Push a Tooth

Only a few documented experiments have measured the result of pushing a single tooth at either of two positions along the tooth, for purposes of understanding the brain. Here is one such study:

“Forces, movements and reflexes produced by pushing human teeth,” Brendan J.J. Scott [pictured here], Andrew G. Mason and Samuel W. Cadden, Experimental Brain Research, May 2012, Volume 218, Issue 4, pp 629-637. The authors, at the University of Dundee, conclude:

“Reflexes were evoked by pushing at two positions (incisal and cervical) on an upper central incisor…. it appears that neither tooth movements nor jaw reflexes are dependent on the point of force application to a tooth.”