Abstract
Eating meals is an indispensable act for the maintenance of life as well as mental and physical health. This research focused on “Biting Force” a factor of the judgment of oral cavity function. For this purpose, atomic bomb survivors who received a health checkup were divided into two groups, the early elderly (65-74 years old) and the late elderly (75 years old or older), and the biting forces of the two groups were compared and the factors affecting biting force were clarified. The survey was conducted targeting 302 atomic bomb survivors who received a health checkup (158 early elderly and 144 late elderly). As a result, 1) the biting force of the early elderly was significantly higher than that of the late elderly, 2) the factor affecting the biting force of the examinees was the number of remaining teeth, and the number of remaining teeth was higher in the early elderly group than the late elderly group, 3) a significant difference was observed in hemoglobin levels between all subjects and the early elderly group and this difference was also related to the number of remaining teeth, and 4) the biting force of the examinees was higher in females than in males. It is important for the examinees to prevent the reduction of biting force, just the same as other elderly persons. Therefore, it is required to take necessary actions, including explaining the importance of increasing the duration of chewing at an early stage before the weakening of the chewing action becomes obvious.
