Abstract
The assessment of chewing function is needed for health promotion and for the mainte-nance of the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the elderly. The purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate a simple screening method of the chewing function of the elderly using subjective questions on food choice and acceptance.
This investigation was performed on two different kinds of institutionalized elderly, those in a nursing home (56 persons) and home for the elderly (77 persons). Firstly, the relation between the degree of satisfaction of chewing and choice and acceptance of 26 foodstuffs was analyzed. Then, 10 kinds of representative foods (boiled fish, rice, broiled fish paste, boiled fish paste, konnyaku, chicken meat, apple, Chinese cabbage, rice crackers, peanuts) were selected from 26 foodstuffs according to the data analysis on nutrition and chewing ability.
The responses to the questions on acceptance of the 10 selected foods were distinguished as “easy to chew”, “good to chew”, “Questionable”, “poor to chew” and “impossible to chew”, and scores of 10, 7.5, 5.0, 2.5, and 0 were given respectively. This questionnaire and scoring system called the Masticatory Index Scale (MIS) were estimated for their use as a possible oral health screening method for elderly subjects with different oral health status.
These results indicate that MIS scores could be used both as a reflection of the oral health condition of each older person and also practicaly for oral health screening of the elderly.
