Good afternoon everyone we are the grp 3 we will discuss the tactile sensation for the overview of

our report we will discuss

the introduction of tactile sensation
what is oral tactile sensation,
the oral somatosensory receptors
Pathway of tactile sensation
Factors influencing tactile sensitivity and to dental setting

The sense of touch, or tactile sense, is the perception of objects that come into contact with the
skin. Basically, mechanical stimuli such as pressure, stretch, vibration or movement, cause physical
deformation in tactile receptors, which are essentially nerve endings of sensory neurons. The
deformation typically leads to opening of ion channels, allowing ions to flow in or out of the cells,
resulting in cellular depolarization. If the stimulus is strong enough, action potentials are generated
and sent to the brain.

There are several types of tactile receptors, located in different layers of the skin and deeper tissues.

Anatomically, they can be encapsulated or unencapsulated, meaning they are wrapped or not
wrapped in connective tissue, respectively. Functionally, they can be rapidly-adapting, or
slowly-adapting:

- Rapidly-adapting receptors generate action potentials when first stimulated, then quickly adapt and
reduce or stop generating signals even if the stimulus continues. They respond to changes and
therefore detect movements and sequence of events, rather than static objects.

- Slowly-adapting receptors, on the other hand, keep generating signals for a longer time. They carry
messages about steady pressure on the skin and sense object’s texture, edges and shapes.

Touch receptors also differ in their sensitivity - some respond to light touch, others sense only heavy
pressures. A sensory neuron receives signals from an area called its receptive field. Any touch within
a receptive field stimulates one sensory neuron, transmitting one single signal to the brain.

Merkel’s discs are slowly-adapting receptors that have very small receptive fields and high spatial
resolution. They are especially dense in the fingertips, and are best-suited for processing information
about shape and texture.

Ruffini’s corpuscles are slowly-adapting receptors with large receptive fields.They are poorly
understood, but seem to respond most to skin stretching, like what would occur with movement

Meissner’s corpuscles are rapidly-adapting receptors. They have relatively small receptive fields, but
their spatial resolution is inferior to that of Merkel’s discs. They are especially effective at
transmitting information about movement between the skin and another surface. This can be used
to sense texture and to detect if an object is sliding past the skin--which is important for maintaining
grip.

Pacinian corpuscles are rapidly-adapting receptors with very large receptive fields. They are thought
to be most effective at transmitting information about vibrations objects cause when they are
contacted.

A touch sensory pathway involves 3 neurons: - Touch receptors are first-order neurons. Their axons
form sensory fibers that enter the spinal cord via the dorsal root of spinal nerve. - Inside the cord,
first-order neurons synapse with second-order neurons either near the point of entry, or in the
medulla of the brainstem.

Second-order neurons then cross over to the other side of the cord, before ascending to the
thalamus. This is how sensory information from the left side of the body is transmitted to the right
side of the brain, and vice versa.

- Third-order neurons conduct the information from the thalamus to the sensory cortex. Sensory
neurons from the face and head follow several cranial nerves, mainly the trigeminal nerve, to the
brainstem, where they synapse with second-order neurons, which decussate and continue to the
thalamus.