Control of the vital functions of the heart, lungs and intestines, as well as of wakefulness and sleep, takes place at the level of the brain stem in a region called the "reticular formation", which is a neuronal associative region with specific functionality and a network of connections (30).
Monoamine nuclei such as the locus coeruleus and acetylcholine are essential for memory and attention. They also play an essential role in the regulation of sleep and wake cycles.
We reported that the motor nucleus of the trigeminal nucleus was confused with the locus coeruleus (nucleus monoamine to norepinephrine or norepinephrine) and we had already shown the close relationship between the trigeminal and the reticular formation (31-32-13-2).
The close relationship between the trigeminal and the locus coeruleus supports us in several assertions:
- the mandible is a noradrenergic system ;
- the morning or late night symptomatology found in our occlusal lesion pattern;
- the frequency of insomnia, headaches and migraines in our patients suffering from temporo-mandibular dysfunctions.
The proximity of the different nuclei of the reticulum and the trigeminal nuclei suggests interreactions and perhaps also "buggs" at the origin of the varied symptomatology that can be encountered in these dysfunctions, which can range from a change in taste to a change in the person's mood.
Let's not forget that the mouth is the organ that has evolved the most during phylogenesis. B. CYRULNICK speaks of the "bewitched mouth" because it has gone from a function of grip-defence to a function of verbalization-speech (33).