title: Passive toothbrushing-induced seizures: report of a severely disabled girl.
abstract: Toothbrushing-induced seizures are rare reflex seizures triggered by the brushing of one's own teeth. We encountered an 11-year-old girl with severe mental retardation, hypotonic cerebral palsy and epilepsy who presented with toothbrushing-induced seizures. She had had spontaneous brief tonic seizures several times a day since the age of 1 year and 2 months and started presenting with the same type of seizures induced by toothbrushing from the age of 8 years. As she could not brush her teeth by herself due to her disabilities, her mother brushed her teeth daily for her. The interictal EEG showed spike-and-wave complexes in the frontal regions bilaterally. The [Tc-99m]HMPAO-SPECT at the time of the seizure induced by toothbrushing suggested that the seizures originated from the left perisylvian cortex. This is the first report of toothbrushing-induced seizures triggered by the brushing of the patient's teeth by another person ('passive toothbrushing').
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shiga Medical Center for Children, Moriyama, Shiga, Japan. tkumada@mccs.med.shiga-pref.jp
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kumada
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nishii
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyajima
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Ikuko
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hiejima
authors.forename: Fumihito
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: Anri
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D020195:Epilepsy, Reflex / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000009:adverse effects*