Relationship among occlusal force, masticatory performance, and condition of oral dryness on complete denture wearer

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to make clear the oral function（occlusal force, masticatory performance, and condition of oral dryness） of complete denture wearer.
Methods: The subjects of this study were 14 patients wearing upper complete denture（ 7 males, 7 females, mean age 84.8±5.9 years）. Occlusal force was measured using a prescale（ Dental Prescale II, GC Inc.）, and masticatory performance was evaluated by chewing a 2g gummy jelly（ Glucolumn, GC Inc.）. Condition of oral dryness was measured at the tongue using an oral moisture checking device（ Mucus, Life Inc.）. The occlusal force, masticatory performance, and oral moisture were evaluated, and the relationships among these measured values were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient. The relationships between the measured value of these tests and age were also analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient.
Results: The mean value of the occlusal force was 328.1±120.3 N, and the mean value of masticatory performance was 142.7± 40.5 mg/dL. The average value of the oral moisture was 30.1±3.0. There was statistically significant correlation between the occlusal force and the masticatory performance（ r=0.66, p<0.01）. Occlusal force and oral moisture tended to be inferior as the age was increased. However, the masticatory performance showed almost constant value regardless of the age.

Conclusions: This study made it cleared that there was a correlation between the occlusal force and the masticatory performance of the subjects wearing upper complete denture. It was suggested that the masticatory performance showed almost constant value regardless of the age.