Gastric emptying of solid food in edentulous patients

Whether mastication of food by teeth is a physiological contributor in the process of nutrient digestion remains a debatable issue. In this study we sought to determine whether mastication could influence the gastric emptying of solid food. In 8 edentulous patients, we measured the gastric emptying of a test meal ingested with or without their dental prostheses. Clinical dental evaluation and Helkimo chewing test were first performed to verify that the mastication deficiency was adequately corrected by the dental prostheses. A mixed meal containing ten cubes (1.5 cm) of beef liver labeled with 99mTc and mixed in a chicken stew was ingested by the subjects and followed by gamma camera external scintigraphy. The gastric emptying rate of the 99mTc-labeled liver was similar whether the meal was ingested with the denture properly inserted, allowing normal mastication of the liver cubes, or whether the food was swallowed unmasticated in the absence of functional prostheses (Tlag = 60 +/- 5 vs. 58 +/- 11 min, p = NS; T1/2 = 73 +/- 21 vs. 55 +/- 10 min, p = NS; Tlag+T1/2 = 133 +/- 19 vs. 114 +/- 17 min, p = NS). These results show that gastric trituration and emptying of solid food was not facilitated by prior mastication.