1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Influence of occlusal rehabilitation on body function and brain function in the elderly
| Project/Area Number |
09470435
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
補綴理工系歯学
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Medical and Dental University |
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Principal Investigator |
HAYAKAWA Iwao Tokyo Med. Dent. Univ. Fac. Dent. Associate Professor, 歯学部, 助教授 (60014172)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HIRANO Shigezo Tokyo Med. Dent. Univ. Fac. Dent. Assistant Professor, 歯学部, 助手 (10262205)
MORIZAWA Masayuki Tokyo Med. Dent. Univ. Fac. Dent. Assistant Professor, 歯学部, 助手 (40191019)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1997 – 1999
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| Keywords | occlusal rehabilitation / body function / brain function / gait stability / near-infrared spectroscopy / EEG / hemoglobin / mastication |
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| Research Abstract |
This project were carried to reveal the influence of the occlusal rehabilitation on the body function and brain function in the elderly.
The influences of wearing dentures on the dynamic stability during walking (gait) of edentulous volunteers, aged 65 and over. Gait cycle, gait velocity and stride length of the subjects with and without complete dentures were measured during three sessions of 15m walks using a newly developed telemetry equipment. Data were analyzed statistically using paired t-test. Gait cycle of subjects when wearing complete dentures significantly decreased compared to without dentures. Gait velocity and stride length with complete dentures significantly increased compared to without complete dentures. The results showed that the gait stability was improved by wearing complete dentures in the edentulous subjects. These findings suggest that the presence of an established occlusal vertical dimension while wearing dentures provides a better gait stability on edentulous subjects and potentially could reduce the risk of fall.
On the other hand, the relation between oral function and brain function was studied. Six volunteers participated in this study. They were asked to chew the gum during 5min. Through chewing the gum and after chewing, they were examined the amount of hemoglobin in brain tissue caused by mastication with near-infrared spectroscopy. At the same time, they were measured EEG before and after chewing the gum. All of subjects increased the amount of oxyhemoglobin and decreased the amount of deoxy-hemoglobin after the start of chewing the gum. On the contrary, they were no changed of EEG between before and after chewing the gum. The results suggested that the observation of the amount of hemoglobin in brain tissue is effective method of continuous neuron activity during mastication as compared with EEG.
These results showed that the occlusal rehabilitation positively influences on the activity of the body function and brain function.
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