Zum Einfluss unterschiedlicher Volumina gleichen Kaugutes auf das Kaumuster vollbezahnter junger Erwachsener

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between bolus size of a food with defined consistency and volume, maximum mouth opening and number of chewing cycles from ingestion to reflective swallowing in subjects without restrictions in oral health. Additionally a factor, to which the number of chewing cycles changes with increasing bolus size, should be evaluated. Fifty-three young adults between 20 – 30 years of age without limitations in oral health participated in this study. Chewing pattern and chewing behavior of every subject was recorded by a kinesiograph while chewing carrots of different weight and volume (2 g/2,2 cm3, 4 g/4,4 cm3 und 8 g/8,8 cm3). With increasing bolus size, the number of chewing cycles from ingestion until swallowing of the bolus increased. By doubling the bolus size from 2 g to 4 g or from 4 g to 8 g, the number of chewing cy-cles rose by about 50% (22 cycles at 2 g, 28 at 4 g, 38 at 8 g). The maximal amplitudes of chewing movements increased in all three spatial axes. However, each subject kept its characteristic chewing pattern, because the shape of a chewing cycle was unchanged. The mean chewing velocity increased, the duration of the chewing cycle remained approximately constant, the duration of an entire chewing sequence increased because of the risen number of chewing cycles. If there is an increase of chewing cycles by a factor of 1,5 with doubling bolus size in a range from 2-8 g in persons with different conditions of teeth, further studies remains to be seen. Potentially, the developed experimental setup can be used as an chewing test.