Gum chewing is a gross voluntary physiological motor activity that uses numerous functional neuroanatomical pathways. In this sidebar, I postulate how gum chewing can stimulate various neuronal pathways that may affect a number of clinical outcomes. These clinical outcomes have yet to be demonstrated. The act of gum chewing fulfills many of the hypotheses related to recognizing stimuli of areas of the . body not well-represented in the brain, such as neuronal convergence and summation. It also has been associated with many physiological attributes, including increased blood flow in the cerebral and orofacial region, which may account for increased alertness and improved memory. There are two areas-headache and possible inhibition of the satiety center-in which gum chewing works synergistically.
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