Rehabilitation with dental prosthesis can increase cerebral regional blood volume.
Treatment with denture for edentulous people is highly important for maintaining quality of life. However, its effect on the brain is unknown. In this experimental study, we hypothesized that dental prosthesis can recover not only the physical condition of mastication system but also the regional brain activity. We evaluated functional brain imaging of edentulous subjects fixed by dental implant prosthesis with clenching tasks by multi-channel near-infrared optical topography. Results revealed a significantly (P<0.001; paired t-test) increased cerebral regional blood volume during maximum voluntary clenching task by implant-retained prosthesis. There were no statistically significant differences between patients with and without prosthesis in the latency to the maximum regional blood volume after the task. Conclusively, clenching can be effective for increasing cerebral blood volume; accordingly maintenance of normal chewing might prevent the brain from degenerating.
Miyamoto
Ikuya
I
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. miya@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Yoshida
Kazuya
K
Tsuboi
Yoichi
Y
Iizuka
Tadahiko
T
D001732:Bite Force; D001810:Blood Volume; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
D006454:Hemoglobins