Effects of masticatory exercise on cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults

Mastication improves cognitive function by activating cerebral cortical activity, and it is important to demonstrate the cognitive effects of masticatory training using a variety of different interventions.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of masticatory exercise on cognitive function in healthy older adults living in the community.

For six weeks, twelve participants performed a masticatory exercise using a NOSICK exerciser device, and thirteen subjects performed daily life without masticatory exercises. Trail Making Test, Digit Span Test, and Stroop test were used to measure the cognitive function.

The participants in the experimental group showed significant improvements in TMT-A/B (p= 0.001 and 0.004), DST-forward (p= 0.001), and ST-word (p= 0.001). The effect sizes after the intervention were calculated as (1.2 and 0.8) for TMT-A/B, (0.8 and 0.2) for Digit Span Test forward/backward, and (0.6 and 0.2) for Stroop test color/word.

We suggest that the masticatory exercises improve cognitive function in healthy older adults. Therefore, masticatory exercises can be used as a therapeutic exercise during cognitive rehabilitation.