Abstract
The aim of the present study was to elucidate the relationship between health practices and masticatory function. Masticatory function was evaluated by chewing ability based upon a questionnaire on food intake (mastication score), maximum occlusal force measured by the Prescale TM, and the number of present teeth. The items on general health practice, included smoking, physical activity, drinking alcoh ol, sleeping hours, body, weight, diet, and eating between meals, were used in a previous investigation carried out by Breslow et al. Additionally, we examined the frequency of drinking sweat beverages. The persons who were conscious about their diet had a higher mastication score (p<0.05), higher occlusal force (p<0.05) and larger number of present teeth than the persons who did not care about their diet. The persons who frequently eat between the meal had a lower mastication score (p<0.05). Furthermore, the volume of sweat beverages was significantly related to the mastication score. The other health practices were not related to the masticatory functions. These results suggest that the health practice with respect to diet is closely related to the masticatory function in particular.
