Evaluating the masticatory function after mandibulectomy with colour‐changing chewing gum

Abstract

The aim of this study was to clarify the usefulness of colour-changing gum in evaluating masticatory performance after mandibulectomy. Thirty-nine patients who underwent mandibulectomy between 1982 and 2010 at Kobe University Hospital were recruited in this study. There were 21 male and 18 female subjects with a mean age of 64·7 years (range: 12-89 years) at the time of surgery. The participants included six patients who underwent marginal mandibulectomy, 21 patients who underwent segmental mandibulectomy and 12 patients who underwent hemimandibulectomy. The masticatory function was evaluated using colour-changing chewing gum, gummy jelly and a modified Sato's questionnaire. In all cases, the data were obtained more than 3 months after completing the patient's final prosthesis. The colour-changing gum scores correlated with both the gummy jelly scores (r = 0·634, P< 0·001) and the total scores of the modified Sato's questionnaire (r = 0·537, P < 0·001). In conclusion, colour-changing gum is a useful item for evaluating masticatory performance after mandibulectomy.

Sequential evaluation for bone union of transferred fibula flaps in reconstructed mandibles: panoramic X-ray versus computed tomography

“…9 This method has been described previously as the 'CAT classification'. [10][11][12] Defects that included neither the mandibular angle (A) nor the mental tubercle (T) were defined as defects of the 'body' (Fig. 1).…”

Texture Analysis of Food Samples Used for the Evaluation of Masticatory Function

“…If the jawbone is surgically resected, hard reconstruction should be performed using a fibular flap or reconstruction plate; furthermore, a jaw prosthesis using dental implants may be needed. However, it has been shown that the improvement in masticatory function is limited in such case [ 3 , 4 , 8 , 14 ]. Additionally, radiotherapy causes a dry mouth, which is one of the main oral function problems, since sufficient saliva is required for bolus formation.…”

“…Gum and gummy jelly are very useful because they can be objectively evaluated, but they are too hard to evaluate in patients with significant deterioration in the oral function. In fact, when the masticatory function after mandibular resection was measured with gummy jelly, most patients scored ≤2 out of a maximum score of 9 [ 4 ]. This was because the gummy jelly was so hard that the patient could not bite it off in multiple small pieces.…”

Investigation on masticatory muscular functionality following oral reconstruction – An inverse identification approach

“…Due to its substantial role in stomatognathic performance, masticatory functionality has been directly or indirectly measured using a range of different methods to date, including EMG (Van Ruijven and Weijs, 1990), CT-based imaging analysis (Katsumata et al, 2004), gnathodynamometer (Marunick et al, 1992a), colour-changing gum (Shibuya et al, 2013), gummy jelly (Shiga et al, 2012), questionnaires (Sato et al, 1989) and the above-mentioned optimality criteria (Schindler et al, 2007) techniques. None of these methods alone can produce the proper quantification of muscle force in both magnitude and direction.…”