The majority of studies showing the relationship between occlusal conditions and health conditions of the elderly have been conducted either on residents in nursing homes or on patients in hospitals for the elderly. Thus, there is a lack of data on the independent elderly, who form the majority of seniors. In this study, an actual condition survey of students of a college for the elderly was carried out. The object was to establish the relationship between their occlusal conditions, chewing ability and their dietary habits. The study produced concrete basic data on the healthy middle and elderly persons in order to clarify the significance of chewing function maintenance in the elderly.
The subjects of the study were 101 students (63 males and 38 females, mean age: 66.0±4.9 years) of Niigata Prefectural College for the Elderly, who took part in a questionnaire survey of their dietary habits. They consented to participate in the survey of their occlusal condition, chewing ability and nutritional intake condition.
Of these subjects, 36 wore dentures; and 65 did not. According to the Eichner's classification, the majority of the subjects kept four occlusal supporting areas. The mean number of existing teeth per person was 22.8±7.7 and the mean and standard deviation of the maximum occlusal force were 661.5±362.7 N. When the subjects were classified into three groups by the chewing ability, the lower chewing ability group showed an increased intake ratio of sodium chloride compared to that of the higher chewing ability group. Based on the above-described results, it was concluded that favorable occlusal conditions were maintained among students of the college for the elderly as compared with the average elderly of the same generation. At the same time, it was suggested that chewing ability may relate to the intake of nutrients of healthy middle-aged and elderly persons.

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The 8020 Campaign, which sets a definite goal for dentistry, is highly regarded. However, the problems of 8020 achievers (8020s) and the conditions of edentulous patients with good prosthetic treatment (8000s) have not been clarified. The puroposes of this study are to compare 8020s and 8000s and to clarify the problems of 8020s.
Thirty-six 8020s and thirty-five 8000s were evaluated with regard to their swallowing function, oral dryness, occlusal force, chewing function, medico-social conditions, oral problems, and QOL.
The results show that although their occlusal force and chewing function were slightly low for the 8000s, appropriate prosthetic treatment may prevent decrease of swallowing, medico-social conditions, oral problems, and QOL, as is often said. However, there were some 8000s who had denture problems. These subjects also had some problems in QOL, which needed improvement. On the other hand, there were problems of “food trapped between the teeth”, indigestion and TMD, which might cause the decrease of QOL. Not only maintainance of teeth, but also preservation of a good occlusal condition, ease of cleaning and appropriate dietary guidance seem to be necessary.

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