EFFECTS OF FATIGUE AND CHEWING TRAINING ON MAXIMAL BITE FORCE AND ENDURANCE

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of chewing traini ng on the strength and resistance to fatigue of the masticatory muscle s. Twenty-five healthy adults were divided into an experimental group (7 men, 10 women) and a control group (4 men, 4 women). The experiment al group chewed a special hard chewing gum one hour daily for 28 days. Maximal bite force and endurance were measured, The maximal bite forc e already showed a significant increase in the experimental group by t he middle of the experimental period (p < 0.05), reached the highest v alues by the end of the training period (p < 0.001), and also remained at high levels 2 weeks after (p < 0.001). Subjects with weak initial maximal bite force values showed the highest increase in their strengt h after training (r = -0.66, p < 0.01). This type of training did not influence the endurance time during maximal clenching or the reduction in this endurance time after a dynamic fatigue test. No significant d ifferences were found between the maximal bite force before and that a fter the fatigue test under either untrained or trained conditions. In the control group no significant differences were found between the r ecording sessions. In conclusion, 4 weeks training with a hard chewing gum seems to influence the functional capacity of the masticatory mus cles and increase their strength.