ASSESSMENT OF CHEWING EFFICIENCY - A COMPARISON OF PARTICLE-SIZE DISTRIBUTION DETERMINED USING OPTICAL-SCANNING AND SIEVING OF ALMONDS

Particle sizes obtained with progressive chewing cycles were quantifie d by use of an optical scanning device and compared with the sieving m ethod. The aim of this study was to validate the optical method by com parison with sieving using a natural test food, almond. Masticatory ef ficiency was assessed in six dentate subjects. The almonds were chewed for 1, 4, 8, 16 and 32 chewing strokes. Each experiment was replicate d. The chewed material was sieved through a 1 mm aperture sieve on a B uchner funnel and dried after washing with water and 100% alcohol. The dried particles were weighed and scanned by an optical scanning devic e for number and size. The same samples were sieved and weighed with a conventional sieve method. The results of both methods were described by particle size distributions based on the volume of particles. The results derived from the optical scanning and sieving showed similarit y. It can be concluded that the optical method is simple to use, faste r than sieving and needs little skill in the use of equipment. The com parison of the results validates both methods.