Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 215(3)

Intervention Study of Exercise Program for Oral Function in Healthy Elderly People

HARUHISA IBAYASHI,¹ YOSHIHISA FUJINO,¹ TRUONG-MINH PHAM¹ and SHINYA MATSUDA¹

¹Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan

In Japan, one of the duties of the long-term care insurance system is the prevention of oral function degradation. Although various exercise programs for oral function have been developed and practiced in Japan, to date, no study has reported their effects. In the present study, we examined the effects of an exercise program on oral functions in healthy elderly people. Healthy elderly people participated in the study and were randomly divided into intervention and control groups (39 subjects/group). The exercise program consisted of four exercises: exercise for expression muscles, tongue, salivary glands, and swallowing. Before and after a six-month intervention period, we evaluated changes in oral functions, namely bite force, swallowing ability, and salivary flow rate. Fifty-four subjects completed the study protocol: 26 and 28 subjects from intervention and control groups, respectively. A significant improvement in all oral functions, including bite force, swallowing ability, as well as unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rate, was observed in the intervention group after six months, whereas no improvement was observed in the control group. Further, among the intervention group, a significant improvement in oral functions was observed in 17 subjects with 20 or more remaining teeth, whereas no improvement was observed in the other nine with less than 20 teeth. Our results suggest that oral functions significantly improve after conducting a six-month exercise program for oral function. Further, this improvement appears to be influenced by the number of remaining teeth.

keywords —— exercise program for oral function; healthy elderly people; long term care insurance; stretching exercise; number of remaining teeth.

© 2008 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 215, 237-245

Correspondence: Haruhisa Ibayashi, D.D.S., Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807-8555, Japan.

e-mail: acchan@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp