A new study showed that after a British man visited a dental clinic for a routine root canal, he lacked the ability to create any new memories and has a 90-minute recollection. Like the plot summary of the 1993 film "Groundhog Day," the army veteran wakes up each morning reliving the same day in 2005 when he visited the dentist.
Gerald Burgess from the University of Leicester was the lead author of the study. His research team's findings were published in the journal Neurocase.
The patient "WO" was referred to Burgess almost a decade ago. Burgess was a clinical psychologist then, according to Newsroom America.
WO served as a member of the UK army and was stationed abroad in Germany when he received the dental procedure. The study mentions that WO served during the first Gulf War.
He received an anesthesia injection before the procedure began. After the dental surgery was over, he looked pale and weak, and could not move himself.
During the next month, WO had a memory span of 10 minutes. Within time that figure rose to 90 minutes. Results from his CT and MRI scans showed no indicators of brain damage, according to CTV News.
WO has later relocated to his UK childhood home. He recognizes his home and various places in his hometown.
However, WO wakes up daily thinking that it is the day of his dental appointment. It is a big shock to learn that he is in his mother's house, as he believes he is still in the UK army and stationed in Germany.
WO can remember life events that happened up to the day he received a root canal, and receiving the anesthesia, but his memory of events since then is very limited. It is 90 minutes.
Burgess's hypothesis is that WO's memory loss could be related to the form and function of his nervous system. Those networks are changed when memories store new experiences.
As human CPUs save an experience, new proteins are built to form the nervous system's networks. The process takes about 90 minutes, the span of WO's memory retention. Memory is affected when the process is blocked.