Selection of food and chewing side for evaluating masticatory path stability

Abstract

In order to find the most suitable food and chewing side for evaluating the stability of masticatory movement, three types of food with varying textures, as well as both free chewing and unilateral chewing, were utilized in analyzing the masticatory path during mastication. A piece of chewing gum, one peanut, and a slice of crispy bread were used as test foods. For 20 healthy subjects, movement of the incisal point while masticating a test food for 10 s on the free side and the habitual side was recorded. Indicators representing movement path stability were calculated and compared among the foods and between the chewing sides. Masticatory movement was most stable when masticating chewing gum, and less stable for the peanut, and most unstable for the crispy bread. There was a statistically significant difference between each pair of foods for almost all of the indicators. The indicators for peanut were approximately 1.5 times larger than those for masticating chewing gum and the indicators for crispy bread were double those for the chewing gum. When comparing free chewing with unilateral chewing, the masticatory movement of unilateral chewing was significantly more stable than that of free chewing for all test foods. From these results it was suggested that, for evaluating masticatory movement path stability, the most suitable type of food was softened chewing gum and the most suitable chewing method was unilateral chewing on the habitual chewing side.