The bite force of 2594 school children (1248 males and 1346 females) living in northern Japan was investigated during oral health examinations in May and June 2001, using a new type of occlusal force gauge. The subjects were recruited from a variety of educational institutes and comprised: 73 nursery (3-5 years old), 1019 primary (6-11 years old), 902 junior high (12-14 years old) and 600 high (15-17 years old) school children. The measuring apparatus consisted of a hydraulic pressure gauge, with a bite element encased in a plastic tube. The bite force was measured at the first molar or second primary molar in the children presenting in the permanent and primary dentitions, respectively. The findings revealed significant variations in bite force between children of different ages. The average bite force was 186.2 N in males and 203.4 N in females of nursery school children; 374.4 N in males and 330.5 N in females of primary school children; 514.9 N in males and 448.7 N in females of junior high school children; and 545.3 N in males and 395.2 N in females of high school children. The prevalence of malocclusion in the nursery school children was found to be less than 30 per cent, which contrasted with almost 70 per cent in the high school children.
Objective: This paper describes the development of a reliable scale of standards for use in evaluating the progress of the transition from milk to solid food in infants and preschool children. The maturation of chewing and swallowing behavior in infants and young children, which enables processing of solid food, varies, and a scale would assist not only in the instruction of mothers and nurses but also in preventing delay in the introduction of solid food. Design: A range of 159 reference foods were selected on the basis of intake during the period of transition from liquid to solid food. These foods were listed in our previous study, Validity and reliability were tested to create a scale. Methodology: Foods were selected on the basis of 50% of the subjects studied being able to eat them, and on the food groups classified by cluster analyses using the Varclus procedure of SAS. Validity, of the scale was tested by using Pearson's correlation coefficient between the scale score of selected food items and the total score of all 159 food items. The total score of 159 food items was calculated using the general linear models (GLM) procedure of SAS. Reliability was tested using Cronbach's coefficient a. Setting: Public health centers in Aomori, Tokyo, Saitama, Nagano, and Okinawa (Japan). Subject: Five hundred and eighty healthy mothers and children from 2 to 46 months were randomly selected and 470 (81.0%) completed the study. To avoid regional bias, subjects were drawn from northern to southern prefectures in Japan, namely Aomori, Tokyo, Saitama, Nagano, and Okinawa. Results: Twenty food items were selected. By analyzing the score correlation using Pearson's correlation coefficient (R ¼ 0.97, Po0.001) and GLM (R 2 ¼ 0.95, Po0.001), it was confirmed that these 20 food items adequately represented the original 159. The reliability was also found to be sufficient (Cronbach's coefficient a ¼ 0.96).Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that a scale of standards for measuring progress in chewing ability can be created using 20 food items. Such a standard will provide a useful basis against which to assess delay of solid food introduction in childhood. IntroductionThe ways in which the maturation of chewing and swallowing behavior in an infant enables it to eat solid food are various. In Japan, a suggested program for the transitional process from liquid to solid food focused on 1 y after birth and was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare (Society for Maternal and Child Health, 1997). However, many babies do not follow the instructed transitional process (Sakashita, 1992), and many pre-school children are not good at chewing and swallowing due to Contributors: RS participated in the study design, collected the data, did the statistical analysis, participated in the discussion of results and wrote the paper. NI participated in the study design, coordinated the study participated in the discussion of results and reviewed the paper. TT coordinated the study, and participated in the discussion of results. ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.