Age and sex differences in oral functions from junior high school to young adulthood: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

Background: As oral function requires maintenance throughout life, it needs to be understood across age groups; however, few studies have investigated this in young individuals.Objectives: To clarify age and sex differences in maximum occlusal force, maximum tongue pressure and tongue-lip motor function; and the relationship among these oral functions in junior high school students and young adults. Methods:This cross-sectional study investigated oral functions in students aged 12-13 years, 14-15 years old and 16-17 years old (S1, S2 and S3), and young adults aged 20-40 years (YA). We analysed age group differences in each sex and sex differences in each age group. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed for each sex using the maximum occlusal force as the dependent variable to investigate the associations among different oral functions. Results:In 522 children and 100 young adults, there were significant increases in oral functions with age in males and a significant decrease in maximum tongue pressure between S2 and S3 in females. Maximum occlusal force and tongue pressure were higher in males than in females in S3 and YA; tongue-lip motor function was higher in females than in males in S1. In multiple linear regression analysis, tonguelip motor function and age group were significant factors in both sexes and in males, respectively. Conclusion:Maximum occlusal force, maximum tongue pressure and tongue-lip motor function increased with increasing age groups in males. Our findings provide a basis for assessing oral function across age groups.

Factors related to masticatory performance in junior and senior high school students and young adults: A cross-sectional study

“…In the present study, males exhibited higher masticatory performance than females in the S1, S3, and YA groups, which is consistent with the findings of most previous studies [31][32][33], with the exception of one study, in which 12-and 16-year-old females had higher masticatory efficiency than did males [9]. The same trend was also observed in our previous study [15] and other studies regarding the maximum occlusal force [19] and maximum tongue pressure [21]. The MPIG score is obtained from the number of strokes converted from ΔE, which denotes the color changes before and after chewing; thus, it can be treated as a ratio scale statistically [17].…”

“…Therefore, our results can be used to establish standards for masticatory performance assessment based on the color-changeable chewing gum method for these age groups. In our previous study, we analyzed sex and age differences in individual oral functions (the maximum occlusal force and tongue pressure and tongue-lip motor function) in the same study population [15]. As individual oral functions represent only some of the factors affecting masticatory performance, we conducted this study to analyze the relationship of individual oral functions and other relevant factors with masticatory performance in this population.…”

“…This was a post hoc analysis of our previous study [15]. This crosssectional study included students aged 12-13 (first grade of junior high school; group S1), 14-15 (third grade of junior high school; group S2), and 16-17 years (second grade of senior high school; group S3) from two private junior and senior high schools situated in a city area and young adults aged 20-40 years (group YA) who were recruited from students or staff at a local university.…”

“…The measurement data from our previous study [15] were used for analysis. The measurements were performed as described below.…”

Main Methodological Aspects of Determining the Chewing Efficiency

“…According to the literature search [25], various parameters are used for clinical assessment of masticatory efficiency, including masticatory force and determination of the maximum bite force. However, chewing performance and electromyographic activity cannot be determined in quantitative and numerical parameters, unlike maximum bite force.…”