title: Influence of intra-oral sensory impairment by anaesthesia on food comminution and mixing in dentate subjects.
abstract: Sensory input from sensory receptors regarding food morsels can affect jaw motor behaviours during mastication. The aim was to clarify the effects of intra-oral sensory input on the food-comminuting and food-mixing capacities of dentate subjects. Eleven dentate subjects without sensory dysfunction in their oro-facial region participated in this study. Local anaesthesia was achieved on the periodontal structures and on the oral mucosa of the subjects' preferred chewing side by injecting a lidocaine solution with adrenalin. At baseline (control) and after anaesthesia, data on the subjects' food-comminuting and food-mixing capacities were gathered. The food-comminuting capacity was quantified by measuring the degree of pulverisation of peanuts (objective hardness; 45.3 [Newton, N]) after a prescribed 20 chewing strokes. The food-mixing capacity was measured as the degree of immixture of a two-coloured paraffin wax cube after 10 chewing strokes. Wax cubes of three different hardness levels were used (soft, medium and hard: 20.3, 32.6 and 75.5 [N], respectively) and were chewed in random order. After anaesthesia, the subjects' food-comminuting capacity significantly decreased (P < 0.001), as did the food-mixing capacity for each hardness level of the wax cubes (P < 0.01). A significant correlation was observed between the objective hardness values and the anaesthesia effects for the food-mixing capacity (P < 0.05), indicating that after anaesthesia, deterioration of the mixing capacity increased as the hardness increased. In conclusion, intra-oral sensory input can affect both food-comminuting and food-mixing capacities.
authors: Removable Partial Prosthodontics, Oral Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Yoshida
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Fueki
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Wakabayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000766:Anesthesia, Dental; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D010367:Arachis; D005260:Female; D006244:Hardness; D006801:Humans; D008012:Lidocaine; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D010316:Particle Size; D014885:Waxes
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D014885:Waxes; D008012:Lidocaine
keywords: anaesthesia; feedback; mastication; mechanoreceptors; mouth mucosa; sensory; tooth