Masticatory ability in relation to oral status and general health on aging

In recent years in the field of clinical dentistry, and particularly in gerodontics, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of nutrition. Because a lack of masticatory ability leads to an impaired nutritional status, the dentist must be abreast of current knowledge on masticatory ability. Although there are many approaches to the measurement of masticatory ability with natural or functional teeth, there is no ideal method for this measurement in the elderly. This is because the elderly are usually missing more than half of their teeth, and thus have various dentitions. For example, the dentition of 70-years old subjects varies from no missing teeth to no remaining teeth. Moreover, the prosthetic appliances used vary from partial dentures to complete dentures. The present study was performed to establish a method for the objective assessment of masticatory ability which could be applied to the elderly, with their various dentitions. We demonstrated a useful jelly of varying hardness (G-1 jelly) for this assessment. In addition, we examined the correlation between masticatory ability, oral status and general health of the elderly, using this new assessment method.