title: Acupuncture modulates facial warm sensory thresholds.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effects of four- and six-point acupuncture on facial sensory detection thresholds to thermal and electrical stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten healthy volunteers underwent four-point acupuncture at ST6 and LI4 bilaterally for 15 minutes. A further 10 subjects underwent six-point acupuncture by adding needling at ST2 bilaterally. Sensory testing to thermal and electrical stimuli applied to mental and infraorbital nerve dermatomes was performed at baseline, 10 minutes, 1 hour, and 1 day after needling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the mental and infraorbital nerve dermatomes, six-point acupuncture significantly increased warm threshold by a peak mean of 1.1°C to 1.4°C (repeated measures ANOVA P = .001) and this effect was significant at all time points relative to baseline (P < .05). No significant effects were observed by the four-point acupuncture on warm thresholds, and neither four- nor six-point acupuncture significantly altered electrical detection thresholds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A dose effect, related to the number of points employed, may be present when employing acupuncture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, The Faculty of Dentistry, Hebrew University-Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel. benoliel@cc.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benoliel
authors.forename: Shadya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zaidan
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eliav
mesh_terms: D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005145:Face / Q000294:innervation; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult