Development of the new oral power rehabilitation to improve the denture treatment for elderly people

2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 17390520
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 補綴理工系歯学
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: TSUGA Kazuhiro Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院医歯薬学総合研究科, 助教授 (60217289)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): AKAGAWA Yasumasa Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Professor, 大学院医歯薬学総合研究科, 教授 (00127599) ; YOSHIDA Mitsuyoshi Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Research Associate, 大学院医歯薬学総合研究科, 助手 (50284211) ; TAJI Tsuyoshi Hospital, Research Associate, 病院・助手 (80284214)
• Project Period (FY): 2005 – 2006
• Keywords: Dentistry / Aging / Rehabilitation

Research Abstract

We hypothesized that the tongue exercise stimulates the saliva secretion and improves oral environment of elderly patients suffering from dry mouth and chewing difficulty. The purpose of this research was 1) to develop the "new oral power rehabilitation" as tongue pressure exercise for reinforcing the muscular strength of tongue and masticatory muscles and increasing their salivary flow rate, and 2) to clarify whether this rehabilitation has an influence on effectiveness of denture treatment including an improvement of the swallowing function through this tongue exercise.
The evaluation about swallowing function, ability of mastication, maximum tongue pressure and saliva secretion among the older people, the older people who need nursing care and the young people were performed. For standardizing tongue exercise, our prototyped portable device for tongue pressure measurement was utilized. Participants were asked to compress the intra-oral balloon section of the device onto their palate as much effort and trials as possible. Then, re-evaluation was performed within 3 months to 6 months period of time after this rehabilitation, and the comparison of the amount of saliva was performed between rehabilitation group and control group.
More amount of saliva was secreted in response to tongue exercise than rest state secretion (P<0.05, paired t-test). This tongue exercise is easy to use and has possibilities to be the rehabilitation for increasing saliva secretion of the elderly and/or patients suffering from dry mouth.