OBJECTIVETo reveal functional activity mapping during anticipation of dental pain with non-invasive fMRI technique, and to offer therapeutic possibilities for treating chronic oral facial pain psychologically.

METHODS8 right handed patients with dentinalgia of the right maxillary bicuspid were included in this study. Block design was adopted, BOLD level during anticipation epoch (on) was contrasted with that of rest (off). Functional MRI scan covering the whole brain was carried out. The fMRI data were analyzed by SPM2 software with t-test to generate the activation map.

RESULTSIncreased BOLD signals during dental pain anticipation were found dominantly on the left side in inferior, middle frontal gyrus/BA10,46, postcentral gyrus/BA2,3, middle frontal gyrus/BA8, precentral gyrus/BA44 and cerebellum.

CONCLUSIONAnticipation of dental pain by itself can activate brain regions, especially prefrontal areas, SI, SMA and cerebellum. The results of pain anticipation are consisted with previous studies except that there is no activation in insula and cingulate cortex. Sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional activation in dental pain anticipation may indicate that brain nociceptive network can be affected by hint.