Masticatory performance in 80-year-old individuals.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the masticatory performance of elderly people at the age of 80 years.


METHODS
A total of 283 individuals of 80 years of age took part in a general and dental health survey.


METHODS
A dental examination including the number of remaining teeth, occlusion, prostheses, bite force recording, and a questionnaire regarding masticatory performance were recorded.


METHODS
Five municipalities (Okazaki city, Tokoname city, Tahara town, Atsumi town and Minami-chita town) in Aichi prefecture, Japan.


RESULTS
There were 20 or more teeth in 7.4% subjects, and 44.5% were edentulous. Subjects with no occlusion accounted for 77.4% of the total. Subjects with prostheses accounted for 90.8%. Maximum bite force and masticatory ability score for patients with 20 or more teeth or not wearing prostheses were higher than other groups. The non-wearing prostheses group had a low masticatory ability score.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the 80-year-old individuals recovered their masticatory ability with the assistance of prostheses. Several individuals with 20 or more remaining teeth or without removable dentures present in both jaws had a high score for bite forces and masticatory abilities.
Tatematsu
Masashi
M
Department of Removable Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. msy-tprs@dpc.aichi-aikuin.ac.jp
Mori
Takashi
T
Kawaguchi
Toyozo
T
Takeuchi
Kazuo
K
Hattori
Masami
M
Morita
Ichizo
I
Nakagaki
Haruo
H
Kato
Kazuo
K
Murakami
Taeko
T
Tuboi
Shinji
S
Hayashizaki
Junko
J
Murakami
Hiroshi
H
Yamamoto
Morimasa
M
Ito
Yutaka
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001732:Bite Force; D003778:Dentures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007574:Jaw Relation Record; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000503:physiopathology*