The Effect of the Texture and Adherence of Chewing Gum on its Suitability for Denture Wearers

Abstract

Recently, the effects of chewing gum on stomatognathic system have been studied, and it was also showed that chewing gum could suppress advance of aging. The purpose of this study was to find a chewing gum with low adhesion to dentures, and which denture wearers could chew easily. First we made trial chewing gums with various hardnesses based on the criterion of viscosity, and measured the penetration stress and adhesion to dental restorative materials of each gum. Then we had complete denture wearers chew the trial chewing gums. Participants scored the texture and the adherence to dentures of each gum. We examined the scores affected by the hardness of chewing gum, and also gathered data on the sex, age, denture using time and occlusal force of each subject. The following re-sults were obtained:
1. Penetration stress
The penetration stress was affected by the hardness of chewing gum. The value was significantly low in soft chewing gum.2. Adhesion to dental restorative materials There was significance in the factors of both gum and restorative material. We found that soft gum would be adhesive, and that all the gums would be adhesive to materials made of resin.
3. Chewing gum texture score
The score of chewing gum texture was not affected by the hardness of the chewing gum. The score significantly correlated only with the occlusal force, and the correlation was a little positive. This showed that subjects could easily chew soft chewing gum when the subject had a low occlusal force.
4. Adherence to dentures score
The hardness of chewing gum significantly affected the score. It showed that soft chewing gum would adhere to dentures. The score significantly correlated also with denture using time, and the cor-relation was a little negative.