Tooth Brushing Could Trigger Seizures in Epilepsy Sufferers

According to researchers in Australia, tooth-brushing could trigger seizures in people who suffer from Epilepsy. Researchers believe that the cause of this seems to be damage in the part of the brain that deals with hand movement and speech.

The results are reported in Neurology after video cameras and brain scans were used when monitoring three patients. Researchers said that the rhythmic hand movements that are normally associated with tooth brushing may trigger a part of the brain which is already overly excitable. Out of the three patients, two of the adults assessed for the study had seizures when they brushed certain parts of their mouth.

One of the participants in the study had a seizure when she brushed her teeth with either hand. Her husband said that his wife described a numb feeling in her head. The left side of her face and arm jerked. She was unable to release the toothbrush if she was holding it in her left hand during a seizure.

Researchers confirmed that the patients were in fact having seizures after brushing their teeth by using video surveillance. The researchers then went on to use MRI scans to find out what was going on in the brain.

According to Dr Wendyl D'Souza and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne, they found that all of the patients being assessed had suffered from lesions in the somatosensory part of the brain that is responsible for co-ordination of hand and mouth movements. He said that "The rhythmic act of brushing teeth may excite an already overly excitable area of the brain". He went on to explain that the seizures were comparable to those triggered by flashing lights and moving patterns in people who suffer from photosensitive Epilepsy. From these findings he concluded: "Since tooth-brushing involves persistent rhythmic action, this may explain why this trigger is more likely to induce seizures in the somatosensory part of the brain compared with other oral stimuli, such as eating".

Dr Matthew Walker, consultant in neurology at the Institute of Neurology in London, said that he had seen patients with Epilepsy have seizures just in response to reading music. Epilepsy triggered from music is known as "reflex epilepsy" and occurs in about 5% of cases, he said. Dr Walker said: "Reflex epilepsies are interesting - they are rare and can be divided into simple (for example in response to flashing lights) and complex (for example, in response to a specific piece of music)." He believes that tooth-brush Epilepsy was more likely to fall into a simple category because it was caused by stimulus rather than more complex processing, such as reading or listening to music. "In a way reflex epilepsy is interesting because you have an excitable part of the brain. I suppose the mystery is why there's so few of them".

Now that researchers have found another trigger for Epileptic seizures, they can isolate the parts of the brain that cause seizures and study the brain in more depth.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6420061.stm