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.

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The purpose of the present study is to clarify the postoperative process of recovery in elderly patients with intravenous sedation.
A clinico-statistical analysis was performed as to postoperative complications during 24 hours following intravenous sedation in 304 cases (97 male and 207 female) of 65 years and over, admitted patients in our hospital over a period of 7 years 6 months (March 1994-September 2000). Perioperative complications included decrease of SpO2 less than 93%, aspiration, partial upper airway obstruction by relaxation of the tongue, and more than 20% decrease of systolic blood pressure. In the same way, postoperative complications included decrease of SpO₂ less than 93%, snoring, disorder of equilibrium function, and aspiration.
The average age of the patients was 73.2±6.6 (S.D.) years old. Out of the 304 cases, 292 cases (95.7%) had some basic diseases. The mean doses of midazolam, diazepam and flunitrazepam administered were 0.045, 0.093 and 0.008 mg/kg, respectively. No significant difference was recognized between the amount of sedatives and compli-cations.
Out of the 304 cases, 56 cases (18.4%) showed complications during the periopera-tive period, and 74 cases (24.3%) showed complications during the postoperative period. On and after two hours, 25 cases showed complications, and 9 cases showed snoring during the night.
With the cases who had aspiration during the postoperative complications, a cerebral infarction occurred in 83% of cases. Aspiration might be caused by incom- petence of the larynx and so on easily with the elderly patients. Therefore, attention after the intravenous sedation was necessary for postoperative bleeding, symptom- less aspiration of the mouth contents, and the intake of food.
From the above, the difference of physiological function in elderly patients is too much, so it is difficult to predict the extended effect of the sedative, and the appearance of the complications. Complications after intravenous sedation which were thought to result from the sedative, appeared for 4 or 5 hours.
In conclusion, it is necessary to keep postoperative management for 4 or 5 hours, or hospitalization following intravenous sedation in elderly patients.

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Clinical analysis of maxillofacial fractures in 90 elderly patients over 65 years old was performed. Elderly patients constituted 7.7% of all fracture cases, and the male: female ratio was 1.4: 1.Falling was the most common cause of injury (49 cases, 54.4%) followed by traffic accidents (31 cases, 34.4%). The mandible was the most common site of fracture (60 cases, 66.7%) followed by the zygoma (22 cases, 24.4%). Condylar fractures of mandible were more frequently observed in elderly patients (55 of 110 fracture lines, 50%), followed by mental region (13 of 50 fracture lines, 26.0%) in dentulous patients with more than 4 teeth and the mandibular body (20 of 60 fracture lines, 33.3%) in dentulous patients with 4 teeth or less and edentulous patients, respectively. Treatment for 65 mandibular fractures was conservative in 45 cases and surgical in 20 cases. For 28 zygomatic fractures, observation and Gillies temporal approach were performed in 15 and 7 cases, respectively, and surgical treatment was done in only 6 cases. Prognoses were generally good, but dislocation of the mandible at mouth opening due to condylar fracture and hyposthesia was observed in a few cases.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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One hundred and 48 patients over 60 years old with malignant neoplasms in the oral and maxillofacial region were studied retrospectively. All patients were treated in the second department of oral and maxillofacial surgery of the dental faculty of Kyushu University during the 9 year period from 1987 to 1995.
In 143 cases of the carcinomas, 89.2% were pathologically diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma, and most sited on the gingiva. More than 50% of the carcinomas in the oral cavity were clinically advanced cases (stage III and IV).
Multiple primary cancer was discovered in 10 cases. Sixty-eight cases were treated by combination therapy of surgery (S), with preoperative radiation (R) and chemotherapy (C). More than 67.6% of the patients had full or partial dentures, metal crowns and bridges.
The 5 years survival rate in each combination of therapy was 75.0% (S+R+C), 70.7% (5), 38.5% (R), 27.3% (R+C), and the over all 5 year survival rate was 64.6%.

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[in Japanese]

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The object of this study was to understand how dementia influences dental treatment. The subjects were 106 patients treated in the geriatric health facilities of Gifu Prefecture. They were divided into dementia and non-dementia groups.
The following three points were compared between the two groups: the ability to do easy dental treatment, mouth cleaning and the aspect of patients' and dental staff's safety.
The results showed a clear, decline in the ability to do mouth cleaning and to explain their chief complaints in the dementia group.Contrary to this, more than 80% of the dementia group could undergo dental examination and diagnosis. As for the subjects' attitude toward dental staff there were 10% habitually aggressive persons in the dementia group.
From these results, it was suggested that dental treatment was possible for 80% of the patients with dementia for dentists with a good knowledge of senile dementia.

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[in Japanese]

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