Validity and reliability of a newly developed method for evaluating masticatory function using discriminant analysis.

The objective of the study was to assess validity and reliability of a newly developed method for evaluating mixing ability of masticatory function. A two-coloured paraffin wax cube was used as a test food in the mixing ability test. Eleven full dentate and 33 denture wearers participated in the validity assessment. They were divided into three groups according to their dental state. Validity was assessed by the Spearman's coefficient of correlations between the mixing ability test and the sieving method used as a 'gold standard' test of the masticatory performance. The subjects were asked to masticate the test foods for 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 30 strokes in each test. Significant correlations (P < 0.001) were obtained in natural dentition group (r(s) = 0.66), in denture-natural dentition group (r(s) = 0.72) and in denture-denture group (r(s) = 0.56). In the reliability assessment, three full dentate subjects were asked to repeat the mixing ability test a number of times. The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.94 in interexaminer consistency, 0.98 in intra-examiner consistency, 0.89 in test-retest consistency and 0.99 in measuring consistency. These results indicated that the mixing ability test had the validity and the reliability for evaluation of the masticatory performance.