Effect of bone mineral density on masticatory performance and efficiency

doi: 10.1111/j.1741‐2358.2010.00414.x Effect of bone mineral density on masticatory performance and efficiency Objective: To evaluate the effect of bone mineral density (BMD) on masticatory performance and efficiency in dentate subjects. Background data: Osteoporosis is the most common disorder of the bone. It causes reduction in BMD of the all the skeletal tissue including jaw bones. It also promotes bone loss in jaw bones. In osteoporosis, a reduction of maximal bite force and greater electromyography activity of masticatory muscles is documented. This may lead to the development of masticatory dysfunction which can be assessed by a chewing test in the form of change in masticatory performance and efficiency. Materials and methods: Sixty subjects with equal numbers of men and women were selected for the study, in which BMD screening (T‐score) was carried out to identify the normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic subjects. Their masticatory performance and efficiency was evaluated by a chewing test (fractional sieving method). Results: A high ‘T’ score was associated with low masticatory efficiency and a low ‘T’ score with high masticatory efficiency. Masticatory performance and efficiency was significantly higher among males as compared to females with similar range of BMD. Conclusion: In both genders, high BMD groups (low ‘T’ score) had a significantly high percentage of masticatory efficiency compared to the low BMD (high ‘T’ score) group.