Standardization of the registration and analysis of mastication: proposal for clinical application

The purpose of this study was to verify the inter-rater agreement level as a means of obtaining an efficiency measure of a standard mastication evaluation through video recordings. The studied population included oral breathing children and teenagers with maxillary atresia. The chewing aspects studied were mode of chewing and preferential chewing side. A white tag was placed on half the subjects' chins while the recordings were made. Two expert evaluators analyzed 54 video recordings at regular viewing speed. The lead author analyzed the same video recordings both at reduced speed and at reduced speed linked through graphical computing techniques. The analysis was conducted on chewing cycles with the viewing angle of the frontal plane. Findings indicated that when comparing the data for the three manners of watching the video recordings, the agreement level was higher for videos with the tag on the chin watched at reduced speed. It was also determined that alternating and bilateral mastication modes were prevalent (64.7%) in this sample.