A body of scientific literature provides evidence towards an analgesic effect of acupuncture an various chronic and acute pain conditions. However, the physiological mechanisms mediating the analgesic effects of acupuncture are still not well understood. The inner components of teeth (dental pulpa) are mostly innervated by nociceptive nerve endings. Therefore, dental pain is a promising "scientific experimental pain model" for studies of the modulating effect of acupuncture on pain-associated brain processes. In cooperation with pain researchers at the Center of Dental Medicine of the University of Zurich, reliable and moderate dental pain perceptions are applied on healthy volunteers to study acupuncture effects under stable and reproducible laboratory settings. We examine whether acupuncture is an effective treatment for experimentally induced dentail pain and if psychological factors (expectation of outcomes, anxiety, optimism and pessimism) contribute to the acupuncture effect. Healthy subjects will be randomized to different sequences of three treatments (acupuncture, sham-acupuncture, no acupuncture) in a within-subject design. Pain and physiological pain responses were investigated as outcomes. Expectation, anxiety, optimism and pessimism will be evaluated as influence factors.

Principle investigator:
Witt, MD, MBA

Project coordinator:
Prates de Matos, MSc

Research associate:
Beyer
Bruegger, PhD (Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Ettlin, MD (Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Kern, MSc
Pach, MD
Xing

Biometry:
Barth, PhD

Project duration:
2015-2016

Project status:
publication

Funding:
Investigator Initiated Trial