Self‐assessed masticatory ability in relation to maximal bite force and dental state in 80‐year‐old subjects

Abstract

By means of a questionnaire, clinical examination and force recordings, the relationships between self‐assessed masticatory ability, dental state and bite force were studied in 160 80‐year‐old persons, 74 men and 86 women. The subjects were in general satisfied with their masticatory ability and 70% had no problems, while 6% reported three or more problems with mastication. Half of the subjects were dentate without removable prostheses and almost one‐third had 20 or more natural teeth. The edentulous persons (about one‐fifth of all) reported more problems related to mastication than the other dentition groups. The maximal bite force varied much and exhibited a significant correlation to the number of remaining teeth and dental state. The self‐assessed masticatory ability was only weakly correlated with dental state and bite force. It was concluded that many subjects with few or no remaining teeth and/or removable dentures had only few complaints of impaired masticatory function and showed a good adaptation to an impaired dental status and small maximal bite force.