Longitudinal Stability and Masticatory Function of Human Dentition1

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Abstract
In view of the need for a multidisciplinary approach to study the effect of aging on the oral cavity, “The Veterans Administration Longitudinal and Cross‐Sectional Study of Oral Health in Healthy Veterans” or the Dental Longitudinal Study (DLS) was initiated in 1968, as an associated research program of the larger “VA Normative Aging Study.”. The current report presents a review of the literature of masticatory performance and relevant experimental data from the DLS on dentition and age‐related changes in performance levels. These data sets demonstrate that in volunteers with natural dentition, there was a slight, but significant, decrease in masticatory performance while dentitions with prostheses showed little change. It appears that when appreciable declines in masticatory function occur, significant alterations also occur in certain perceptual and sensory measures associated with food hedonics and consumption behavior. Generally, these perceptual changes reflect an alteration in taste and texture preferences; phenomena which persist even after appropriate restorative therapy with either removable partial or complete dentures. Information collected in some of our studies suggests that dentate‐impaired persons, with and without a dental prosthesis, may self‐impose certain dietary restrictions which, in time, can compromise their nutritional status and ultimately place them at health risk. These longitudinal results are attempting to provide a comprehensive description of oral phenomena and represent a unique study of the oral aging process.

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