Chewing Ability and Mucosal Moisture in Elderly Individuals

Oral dryness is common among aging individuals and its objective evaluation is an important issue for improving their oral health. In the present study, we measured the objective mucosal moisture in elderly individuals with a moisture checker and evaluated its relation with laboratory findings and subjective oral status. The subjects were 502 adults (244 men and 258 women), with a mean age of 72.3 ± 6.7 years, who participated in a regular medical screening program in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. We evaluated the moisture of the oral mucosa by measuring the weight percentage of water content in the oral epithelium, subjective oral dryness, self-assessed chewing ability [ “good” ( “able to chew all foods”) or “poor” ( “able to chew soft foods only” and “unable to chew any foods”)], and laboratory findings. The values obtained with a moisture checker, which represent objective oral mucosal moisture, were significantly lower in women with poor chewing ability than those with good chewing ability (28.2 ± 2.4% vs. 29.2 ± 2.0%, p = 0.004) and in all subjects (28.4 ± 2.4% vs. 29.1 ± 2.0%, p = 0.004), but not in men (28.6 ± 2.5% vs. 29.0 ± 2.0%, p = 0.27). When multiple logistic regression analysis was performed on confounding factors, older age (OR: 1.24, p = 0.015), women (OR: 1.70, p = 0.016), and anemia (OR: 1.96, p = 0.030) were significantly associated with self-assessed chewing ability. Our current study indicates that poor chewing ability is associated with lower mucosal moisture in elderly individuals. ─ chewing ability; dry mouth; elderly; mucosal moisture; screening. Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 219 (4), 263-267. © 2009 Tohoku University Medical Press