Abstract
The occlusional condition and preference for the degree of firmness of cooked rice were compared between ten persons each of the elderly and young. The dental condition of each subject was measured for the number of remaining teeth, Eichner classification and so on. The occlusal area, occlusal force and maximal occlusal force were evaluated by using Dental Prescale.The obtained measurements were summarized for each person by a principal component analysis. The first and the second principal components were set up as axes to provide a plot for all the subjects. The occlusional condition varied widely among the elderly panel members. Numerical values for the preferred cooked rice by each subject were overlaid on the plot. The young were distributed within a small range, while the elderly were distributed in a wider range. The preferred rice was cooked with an average of 1.8 times the amount of water for the elderly and 1.5 times the amount for the young.
