Applications for oral research in microgravity – lessons learned from burning mouth syndrome and ageing studies
Authors: Dugan Cosmin ,   Internal Medicine Department, Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania,   Faculty of General Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania, Parlatescu Ioanina ,   Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania,   * Corresponding Author: Ioanina Parlatescu, Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. E-mail: ioanina.parlatescu@umfcd.ro, Popescu Bogdan Ovidiu ,   Faculty of General Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania, Pop Corina Silvia ,   Internal Medicine Department, Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania,   Faculty of General Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania, Marin Mihaela ,   Space Applications for Health and Safety Laboratory, Institute of Space Science, Magurele, Romania, Dinculescu Adrian ,   Space Applications for Health and Safety Laboratory, Institute of Space Science, Magurele, Romania, Nistorescu Alexandru Ion ,   Space Applications for Health and Safety Laboratory, Institute of Space Science, Magurele, Romania, Vizitiu Cristian ,   Space Applications for Health and Safety Laboratory, Institute of Space Science, Magurele, Romania,   Department of Automatics and Information Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania, Varlas Valentin Nicolae ,   Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania,   Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Clinical Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology Filantropia, Bucharest, Romania
Published: May 2023

The negative consequences of microgravity for the human body are central aspects of space travel that raise health problems. Altered functions of the same systems and treatment options are common points of spaceflight physiology, age-related diseases, and oral medicine. This work emphasizes the convergence of knowledge between pathophysiological changes brought on by aging, physiological reactions to microgravity exposure, and non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment methods that can be used in spaceflight. Sarcopenia, peripheral nerves alterations, neuromotor plaque in the masticatory muscles, lingual, labial, and buccal weakness, nociplastic pain in oral mucosal diseases, and microgravity, as well as soft tissue changes and pathologies related to chewing and swallowing, corticomotor neuroplasticity of tongue, and swallowing biomechanics, are of particular interest to us. Neurologic disease and other pathologies such as recovery from post-stroke dysphagia, nociplastic pain in glossodynia, sleep bruxism, and obstructive sleep apnea have been studied and, in some cases, successfully treated with non-invasive direct and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) methods in recent decades. An interdisciplinary team from medical specialties, engineering, and biophysics propose an exploratory study based on the parallelism of ageing and space physiology, along with experiment scenarios considering TMS and non-invasive direct methods.