Abstract
Dentures for children (removable space maintatiners) have been defined as one method of denture guidance and used clinically as a functional space maintainer. However there are many problems which have not been solved conserning dentures for children, especially with respect to the recovery of the masticatory ability when wearing one, the authors examined the recovery of the masticatory ability. The subjects consisted of 17 children with and without dentures. They were devided into groups from IIA to IIC according to Hellman's dental age (IIA: 6 children and IIC: 11 children).
An intergrator was used to handle the EMG data and as a result of the study the following conclusions were reached.
1. In IIA the value when wearing dentures decreased than when not wearing them, but in IIC was equal, by the total action potential of the anterior temporal muscle (TA), the posterior temporal muscle (TP), and the masseter muscle (M).
2. The TA%, TP% and M% which are the percentages of the total action potential of TA, TP and M were caliculated to determine the quantity of the action between each average. Then muscular action pattern with dentures was similar to that without the dentures.
3. The percentages of the total action potential with dentures and of the total action potential without dentures were caliculated to determine relatively the quantity of individual action. Then in IIA, decreased more than in cases without dentures, but in IIC, increased.
4. The authors believe that the recovery of the masticatory ability when wearing dentures was influenced by the stability of the denture. However the masticatory ability was recovered noticeably by the occlusal condition of the first molar.
