For those that are not familiar, Function MRI commonly called fMRI can help show an area in the brain that is under pain.
Tara Renton of King’s College London has recently done a study using fMRI scans and arterial spin labeling in order to measure how much oxygenated blood flows through certain areas in the brain. She applied this study to determine how oxygenated blood correlated with the intensity of pain in 16 young men shorty after having their wisdom teeth removed.
In the future this could be used to better understand how much pain one feels as a result of wisdom teeth removal and how it may differ amongst individuals.
PopSci has stated that “some critics believe that the study’s emphasis on short-term, localized agony oversimplifies the concept of pain to the point of uselessness. Since pain involves the complex interplay of emotions and memory – for instance, the phantom limb pain of amputees – fMRI scans for pain may not provide any more guidance to doctors than the smiley face chart already in use.”
To find out more about this study and brain scans to measure pain visit http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527503.400-the-brain-scanner-that-feels-your-pain.html?full=true and http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/brain-scan-measures-pain-promises-quantify-formerly-subjective-feeling