Dentures wearing reduce motion artifacts related to tongue movement in magnetic resonance imaging

Tongue movement with unstable swallowing cause artifacts on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This may be associated with loss of occlusal support. This study aimed to clarify whether motion artifacts can be mitigated by denture wearing during MRI examination in patients without occlusal support, and whether denture wearing affect tongue stability, form, and position were also evaluated.

Ten subjects without occlusal support (6 male, 4 female; mean age 73.20±10.12 years) participated in the study. MRI was performed with dentures worn (DW), followed with removal of dentures (NDW). Luminance standard deviation (LSD) was measured in regions of interest in the axial and sagittal planes. The position of the base of the tongue (TB), tip of the tongue apex (TA), and tongue's long diameter (TLD) were compared between DW and NDW.

NDW evoked ambiguous MR images in the axial and sagittal planes compared with DW. There were significant differences in LSD between DW and NDW in both the axial (p=0.047) and sagittal planes (p=0.02). No significant difference in the position of TB were observed (p=0.78). The position of TA was significantly more protruded with DW (p=0.007). Also, TLD was significantly longer with DW (p=0.001).

Results of this study suggest that wearing the dentures during MRI examination reduces motion artifacts in edentulous patients without occlusal support, and maintained the normal form of the tongue during imaging.