THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CHEWING EFFICIENCY AND OCCLUSAL CONTACT AREA IN MAN

Chewing is influenced by a number of factors, which include jaw and to ngue movements, the activity of circumoral muscles, bite force and har d oral surfaces, but it is not clear which of these factors is most cr ucial to efficiency. The mere presence of surfaces such as the hard pa late, or teeth, does not insure that chewing will be efficient. The pu rpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occlusal c ontact area, and chewing efficiency and to observe the influence of ch ewing-side preference on efficiency. These variables were recorded for both left- and right-hand sides, in a sample of 26 normal young adult s. Chewing efficiency was estimated by the size of food particles coll ected after a predetermined number of chewing strokes. The particles w ere measured using image analysis and the median size calculated. Comp arisons were made, firstly within subjects, between the left- and righ t-hand side, and secondly between subjects. Correlations were found be tween chewing efficiency and occlusal contact area which were more pro nounced within, than between, subjects. It was concluded that while oc clusal contact area influenced chewing efficiency within the same indi vidual, it could not account for the differences in chewing efficiency found between individuals. Differences in the movement of the jaw and in the bite force may have a greater influence on chewing efficiency than occlusal contact area.