Masticatory ability, denture quality, and oral conditions in edentulous subjects.

This study investigated the relationships between the ability of 38 patients with complete dentures to comminute a tough artificial test food and their answers to questions about the chewing experience. Also, clinical assessments were made of denture quality and oral conditions. Significant but weak relationships were found between the ability to comminute the test food and the subjective chewing experience as well as the degree of resorption of the mandibular residual ridge. Masticatory ability is conceivably determined by many other factors as well. Results indicate that dentists cannot rely on asking denture wearers about chewing problems and clinical responses with respect to oral conditions and denture quality for predicting those patients' masticatory abilities. The ability of wearers of complete dentures to comminute tough foods should be determined individually by a series of chewing tests.