People, always looking for something unusual and clinging to physical phenomena, inexplicable facts of nature, study animals at the physiological level to understand the work of their body.
We forget that, in fact, we are the greatest mystery of nature, especially our brain and nervous system.
There is one amazing fact, in the histological period of embryogenesis, our cells begin to differentiate and acquire special functions, this applies to all cells of the body, with the exception of the nervous ones.
Neurons differentiate from special stem cells, which were discovered only in 2014, it was previously thought that the "parents" of all special cells and tissues are all familiar - stem cells. But with the brain, everything is different.
Before the birth of a child, our nervous system forms unconditioned reflexes as early as 36-38 weeks, as well as reflexes of oral automatism. No one was taught to suckle a newborn in the womb of the mother, but the central nervous system took care of this.
During the birth of a child, it is assessed on the Apgar scale, these are the "criteria" for viability( breathing, skin color, palpitations).After evaluation on this scale, a neurologist or a neonatologist checks the reflexes of the newborn, which includes symptoms of oral automatism and protective ones.
I want to emphasize that oral automatism, in norm, is found in children under 3 years of life.
How to detect oral symptoms
Study of reflexes of oral automatism: 
- Proboscis reflex .If you take a hammer or finger and knock on the lips of a newborn, then he draws his lips with a tube and begins to perform sucking movements.
- Ref: Marinescu-Radovici .Irritating the palm surface of the hand, the skin on the man's chin, begins to contract from the side of the stimulus. In the literature, the name of the reflex, maybe the palmar-chin.
- Reflex of Kussmaul .Also has the name search. If you put the baby on the couch and make a slight movement of your fingers stroking movements near the corner of your lips, then it begins to open your mouth, deflect the tongue and turn your head towards the stimulus. This reflex is purely physiological and in adults, even with severe brain damage - is not observed.
- Hand-and-mouth reflex( Babkin) .To check the reflex, it is necessary to press your finger on the palm, near the thumb, after which, the baby opens his mouth. Reflex Babkin occupies one of the wired places in the differential diagnosis of neonatal pathologies, since his absence speaks of the underdevelopment of the cerebral cortex.
- Maxillary reflex of ankylosing spondylitis .A complex reflex is enough, it is necessary to slightly open the mouth, and then put the finger of the doctor on the lower jaw, and put a light blow, a hammer on the finger. In response to the stimulus, the jaw must close. This reflex is preserved throughout the life of a person, because it indicates the proper functioning of the cerebral cortex. Some neurologists consider it to be protective. Please note that Bekhterev's reflex remains for life, and his absence, speaks of irreversible consequences in the brain.
- Reflex Astvatsaturova .Called by a tap on the muscle Gorditsov( just above the nose bridge between the eyebrows).In response to irritation - the mouth and lips are opened - they are closed and stretched out by a tube. There are up to 12 months of life, and then disappears, although there are people in whom he remains for life.
The manifestation of reflexes of oral automatism in adults
It was mentioned above that the reflexes of oral automatism are manifested only in children, and then disappear( exception: Bechterew, Astvatsaturov).But, what factors can cause them in an adult?
When the human brain develops, it simply blocks unnecessary unconditioned reflexes, for example, search or palm-oral.
However, if the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres or the nucleus of the cranial nerves, innervating the musculature of the face and jaw, affects the syndrome of oral automatism, and adults.
In the advanced stage of multiple sclerosis, most nerve cells die, thereby losing contact with other neurons. As a result, the work of higher nervous activity is disrupted and the lower( unconditioned reflexes) begins to work.
This is the most common symptom of oral automatism in adults. But there are also reasons not related to the bark of the cerebral hemispheres.
Very often, this leads to pinching of the cranial nerves or dementia of their nuclei, but often such violations have more pronounced symptoms, for example, paroxysmal tachycardia( when exposed to the vagus nerve), indomitable vomiting.
Inflammation of the meninges, also has the property to disrupt the function of the central nervous system and "turn off" the higher nervous activity. Thus, with meningitis or stroke, not only pathological reflexes appear, but also reflexes of newborns, such as sucking, proboscis.
