March 2012

Self-assessed masticatory ability has been shown to be significantly related to general health among elderly persons. Objective: To identify oral factors associated with the self-assessed masticatory ability. Basic research design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 736 community-dwelling elderly persons. Main outcome measures: Data on background factors and the self-assessed masticatory ability were collected by questionnaire. An intraoral examination examined the pattern of posterior occluding pairs of natural teeth (POPs), the WHO Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPI) and denture-related factors such as use of dentures, pain when using dentures and stability and retention of dentures. Chi-squared tests examined the relationships between the self-assessed masticatory ability and the background factors and oral conditions. Ordinal regression models were constructed with the self-assessed masticatory ability as the dependent variable and oral conditions as the principal independent variables, to adjust for the potential confounding variables. Results: Self-assessed impairment of masticatory ability was associated with lost POPs (p<0.001) and CPI (p=0.012). In the participants with lost POPs, self-assessed impairment of masticatory ability was associated with not using dentures and pain when using dentures (p<0.001). In the totally edentulous subjects, impairment of masticatory ability was not associated with stability and retention of dentures (p=0.070). Conclusions: Factors affecting self-assessed masticatory ability include the pattern of POPs, periodontal status, denture use and pain when using dentures. Key words: mastication, dentition status, community periodontal index of treatment needs, periodontal status, dentures, Japan