Tooth-Brushing Can Bring on Fits
Alex Wilde, ABC Science Online

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March 6, 2007 — Brushing your teeth can trigger a rare type of epileptic seizure, researchers say.

The rhythmic action of tooth brushing seems to affect people who have a rare form of epilepsy associated with a small brain lesion.

Australian researchers published details of three people who had a seizure after brushing their teeth in today's issue of the journal Neurology.

All had identical lesions in the somatosensory cortex of the brain, an area that controls the face, mouth and gums.

The seizures, which were confirmed by video monitoring, occurred when people brushed the sides of their mouths, and caused their faces to jerk and twitch.

One patient salivated vigorously while another couldn't let go of the toothbrush during the seizure.

Dr Wendyl D'Souza, a neurologist at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and senior lecturer in neuroepidemiology at the University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania, says persistent rhythmic action of tooth brushing stimulates a localized area of the mouth that triggers the seizures.

"We draw a parallel with epilepsies in relation to other stimuli such as photic stimulation [repetitive light flashing], which is also quite rhythmic," he said.

"Our three patients had a lesion on their brain in an area that sets up a reflex pathway ... that causes the seizure [when they brush their teeth]."

D'Souza said the brain lesions, which were detected using magnetic resonance imaging, were benign neoplasms that had been there a long time, like birthmarks.

"In one patient we [removed the lesion] because the patient wanted to try and stop the seizures and not need medication, by the end of which the patient became seizure-free," he said.

"The long-term solution is to control the seizures with medication if possible and by brushing less vigorously. The option of surgery is there, but it there is a risk of damaging other brain structures in the area."

Neurologists believe there may be fewer than 10 cases of epilepsy stimulated by tooth brushing worldwide.

D'Souza says the opportunity to study three rare cases with the same lesion has enabled the researchers to review how epilepsy is understood and classified.



http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/06/t...w19-502-ak-0000

tsk stinky breath then and lots of plaque

Thank you for the article.... As yet the cause of my son's seizures has not been pinned down. Maybe this will shed some light on a routine task he does prior to the seizure