Short-Term Crossover Study on the Effect of Orthogonalized Deep-Grooved Posterior Artificial Teeth on the Masticatory Efficiency of Complete Denture Wearers

Abstract

BACKGROUND Mastication has been regarded to play an important role in achieving quality daily life for the elderly. On the occlusal surface of posterior artificial teeth, parallel grooves of 1 mm depth and 1 mm width with an inter-groove distance of 2 mm have been found to significantly improve masticatory efficiency on a mechanical simulator. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present study, the effect of the grooved design on masticatory efficiency in edentulous subjects using a short-term crossover trial was evaluated. Six edentulous participants, 1 male and 5 females, were assigned into two groups. One received duplicated complete dentures with grooved molars first, and the other received duplicated complete dentures with conventional molars first. The design of the teeth was crossover after evaluating masticatory efficiency. Raw carrot, raw lettuce and mixed foodstuffs were used to evaluate masticatory efficiency. Subjects were instructed to masticate 20 strokes and arbitrary strokes until they felt like swallowing. RESULTS The number of masticatory strokes taken was significantly smaller using the grooved design (p