Purpose: The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effectiveness of examining masticatory performance by measuring glucose extraction from chewing gummy jelly.
Methods: Twenty healthy subjects were asked to chew 2g of gummy jelly and 3g of peanuts for 10, 20, and 30 strokes respectively. The masticatory value as measured by the sieve method was then compared with the amount of glucose extraction from chewing gummy jelly.
Results: The relationship between the amount of glucose extraction and the masticatory value was positive (r=0.475-0.850). Both the amount of glucose extraction and the masticatory value were lowest for the 10 chewing strokes and significantly increased for the 20 and 30 chewing strokes (glucose extraction F=1179.6, P<0.01; masticatory value F=605.0, P<0.01). The standardized glucose extraction for the 10, 20, and 30 chewing strokes was 0.17, 0.34, and 0.49 respectively, and increased proportionally. The standardized masticatory values for the 10, 20, and 30 chewing strokes were 0.28, 0.35, and 0.37 respectively, and increased logarithmically.
Conclusion: From these results it was concluded that the masticatory performance as measured by the amount of glucose extraction from chewing gummy jelly is an effective indicator of masticatory function and has a high potential for clinical application.