Despite the absence of remarkable organic disease of the teeth, muscles of mastication or temporomandibular joints, some patients limit their chewing due to early muscle fatigue upon mastication of food. There are few studies on the clinical picture and pathogenesis of such fatigue upon mastication. In this study, the authors 1. surveyed the frequency of fatigue upon mastication; 2. compared two groups of senior high school students, one with and the other without fatigue upon mastication, through the questionnaire on food intake and mastication habits, and 3. examined the reliability of the method of survey through the questionnaire on food intake and mastication habits.
This study surveyed 701 junior high school students, 5997 senior high school students and 168 working men. The questionnaire used for the survey included questions on 1. dental status, 2. mastication habits; and 3. eating habits; 4. growth history; 5. living habits; and 6. general health.
The following results were obtained:
1. Early fatigue upon mastication was seen in 14-24% of the subjects.
2. The group experiencing early fatigue upon mastication was found to differ from the unaffected group in the following areas:
a. Disturbance of mastication due to childhood or current dental disease.
b. Habits of incomplete mastication with decreased desire for chewing.
c. Dietary habits such as preference for soft foods, preference for certain types of food, rapid eating, and eating between meales.
d. Decrease in personal health care, such as treatment for carious teeth
e. Presence of psychosomatic complaints suggestive of a syndrome of unidentified complaints.
3. The questionnaire on food ingestion and mastication employed in this study was judged to be reliable by review of answers on the dental status, attitudes of test subjects, sample size, and discrimination of the test subjects.
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