An fMRI Study on Self-Perception of Patients after Aesthetic Implant-Prosthetic Rehabilitation

Abstract

Objectives: In this functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) study, we investigated the activation of cerebral pathways involved in the elaboration of self-retracting photos (SELF) and the same pictures of others (OTHER). Each of the photographs showed one of the participants during different stages of the rehabilitation: pre-treatment (PRE), virtual planning using “Smile-Lynx” smile design software (VIR), and post-rehabilitation (POST). Methods: We selected eighteen volunteers, both male and female, between 22 and 67 years of age, who previously underwent prosthetic rehabilitation. Each of them was subjected to an fMRI acquisition. Various stimuli were then shown to the subjects in the form of self-retracting photographs and photographs of other participants, all in pseudo-randomized order. We then carried out a two- stage mixed-effects group data analysis with statistical contrast targeting two main effects: one regarding the main effect of Identity (SELF vs. OTHER) and the other regarding the effect of the prosthetic rehabilitation phase (PRE vs. VIR vs. POS). All the effects mentioned above survived a peak-level of p < 0.05. Results: For the effect of identity, results reported the involvement of dorsolateral frontoparietal areas bilaterally. For the phase by identity effect, results reported activation in the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the right hemisphere. A stronger activation in observing self-retracting photos (SELF) post-treatment (POST) was reported compared to the other phases considered in the experiment. Conclusions: All the collected data showed differences regarding the main effect of Identity (SELF vs. OTHER). Most importantly, the present study provides some trend-wise evidence that the pictures portraying the subject in their actual physiognomy (POST) have a somewhat special status in eliciting selectively greater brain activation in the SMA. This effect was interpreted as a plausible correlate of an empathic response for beautiful and neutral faces. The present research suggests a possible way to measure self-perception of the subject after an appearance-altering procedure such an implant-prosthetic rehabilitation. However, future clinical studies are needed to investigate this matter further.

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“…It has also been evaluated by Cattoni et al in 2020 that there’s a possible neurocognitive measure of how the perception of oneself can change as a significant consequence of aesthetic prosthetic rehabilitation reduced for all the other conditions, including self-portraying pictures before the intervention, and pictures of others. Most importantly, the study reports that, among all self-retracting faces in the different stages of the prosthetic rehabilitation, those portraying the subject in her/his actual physiognomy have a somewhat special status in eliciting selectively greater brain activation in the supplementary motor area (SMA) [ 20 ].…”

The Brain Activation of Anxiety Disorders During Emotional Stimulations: A Coordinate-Based Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

“…We also found a decreased activation in the anterior wedge (BA 7) and the visual associative cortex (BA 19) of anxiety disorders. This may be related to the inherent functional structure of the front wedge in humans [48], [49]. The size of the anterior right wedge is positively correlated with the individuals' linguistic creativity [50].…”

A micromorphological/microbiological pilot study assessing three methods for the maintenance of the implant patient

“…Osseointegrated dental implants supporting fixed prostheses could effectively be considered the gold standard in the rehabilitation of patients with partial or total edentulism (Cattoni et al, 2020; Spitznagel, Horvath, & Gierthmuehlen, 2017).…”

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