| Upper motor neuron signs | Upper motor neuron symptoms |
- Increased jaw reflex
- Jaw spasticity
- Facial diparesis (may be asymmetric)
- Increased facial reflexes
- Palmomental sign
- Poor palatal elevation
- Slow tongue movement
| - Jaw stiffness with difficulty opening the mouth
- Spontaneous clenching or biting
- Trismus
- Spontaneous jaw clonus
- Dysphagia
- Tongue incoordination disrupts the oral phase
- Pharyngeal muscle incoordination disrupts the pharyngeal phase
- Dysarthria
- Labial, lingual, and/or pharyngeal components
- Spastic with slow, strained speech
- Laryngospasm
- Often triggered by secretions (eg, saliva) or food particles
- Rapid onset
- "Squeezing" feeling, inability to speak, strained speech
- Short-lived, less than 30 seconds
- Sialorrhea (drooling)
- Difficulty managing pharyngeal secretions
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| Lower motor neuron signs | Lower motor neuron symptoms |
- Weak masseter and/or pterygoids
- Difficulty maintaining jaw closure
- Facial diparesis (may be asymmetric)
- Poor palatal elevation
- Tongue weakness
- Muscle atrophy and fasciculations
| - Incomplete eye closure
- Difficulty opening and/or closing the jaw
- Difficulty chewing
- Disarticulation of the temporomandibular joint when severe
- Poor lip closure and seal
- May contribute to sialorrhea when severe
- Dysphagia
- Tongue weakness disrupts the oral phase
- Pharyngeal muscle weakness disrupts the pharyngeal phase
- Coughing and choking induced by drinking, eating, or saliva secretion
- Often thin liquids followed by solids and thick liquids
- Dysarthria
- Labial, lingual, and/or pharyngeal components
- Slurred, nasal, and/or hoarse speech
- Hoarseness
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