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Validation of a novel diagnostic tool for decreased tongue pressure
Yoshiki Imamura1,2,3, Najla Chebib1, Midori Ohta1,4
1Division of Gerodontology and Removable Prosthodontics, University Clinics of Dental Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Introduction:
Reduced tongue pressure may render eating and swallowing difficult. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the tongue training device can also be used as a diagnostic device and whether its sensitivity and specificity are equal to the numerical tongue pressure measuring device.
Material And Methods:
The target group is patients aged 70 years and over who are hospitalised for rehabilitation. Tongue pressure was measured by both, a tongue pressure measuring instrument and a tongue training tool. The diagnosis of the reduced tongue pressure was made with the tongue pressure measuring instrument and set the verified with the novel tongue training tool.
Results:
Sixty-two participants were included in the study. Forty-five were classified by the tongue pressure measuring device and 53 by the tongue training device as 'low tongue pressure'. Spearman correlation confirmed a positive correlation between the tongue pressure measuring device and the tongue training device rs = 0.800, p = 0.01 level (2-tailed). The tongue training device test identified sensitivity was 100%, and its specificity was 52.9%. The AUC of the ROC curve is 0.901.
Conclusion:
The tongue training device seems a simple, safe and readily available alternative to the tongue pressure measuring device for the diagnosis of low tongue pressure, with an excellent sensitivity and very good specificity.
