Relationship between Food Crushing and Oral Function in Older Adults Requiring Nursing Home Care: A Pilot Study

Kanako Yamawaki, Takahiro Mori, Sakiko Itaki, Azusa Haruta, Chiho Takeda, Aya Hiraoka, Mariko Maruyama, Mineka Yoshikawa, Mitsuyoshi Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tsuga

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigated how jelly is crushed and examined the relationship between tongue pressure and tongue food crushing ability among older adults requiring nursing home care. Seventy-two participants were instructed to freely crush the test foods soft jelly (SJ) and hard jelly (HJ). We visually evaluated the crushability of the test food and identified the intraoral tissues (active sites) used to crush the test food. The active sites were consistent for all participants for both SJ and HJ, and they included the maxillary and mandibular teeth in 41 participants, teeth and residual ridges in 15 participants, maxillary and mandibular residual ridges in 10 participants, and tongue and palate in six participants. Two participants failed to crush the SJ; the active sites in both participants were the tongue and palate. No participant using the tongue and palate as active sites could crush the HJ. Furthermore, 64 participants could crush the SJ and 23 could crush the HJ using the tongue and palate. The cutoff value of the tongue pressure for crushability of the HJ was 22.0 kPa. Assessing tongue pressure and intraoral active sites involved in food crushing could help determine an appropriate diet for older adults requiring nursing home care.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3419
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01-03-2022
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Pollution
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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