Kinematic analysis of hard and soft food mastication in dentate participants using 3d electromagnetic articulography

Abstract

Several studies report that the type of food directly influences the kinematic patterns of mastication. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the chewing cycles of adult and fully dentate participants during the mastication of foods of different texture and hardness (peanuts and carrots) using 3D electromagnetic articulography. Eleven healthy participants (5 men; 6 women), 31.9 ± 5.2 years old, were evaluated. By means of 3D electromagnetic articulography, the mastication of two test foods (peanuts and carrots) was recorded. The data associated to mandibular movement were processed with MATLAB® obtaining different parameters—masticatory frequency in cycles per second, mandibular descent and ascent rate, area of the projections of each masticatory cycle in the three planes of space—which were compared according to type of food and sex of the participants. Statistically significant differences were found between the areas of the masticatory cycles in the horizontal plane according to type of food, being greater for carrots (P=.003). Likewise, statistically significant differences were detected between the sagittal areas of the cycles between men and women, being greater in women (P=.042). Our results agree with other studies that affirm that the texture of the food influences the kinematic characteristics of the masticatory cycles.