The influence that recovery of a chewing function by prosthetic treatment gives to higher brain function.

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In recent years, mastication has been suggested to increase neuronal activities in various regions of the human brain. However, little is known about influence of tooth loss on higher brain function in human. In this study, we used fMRI to assess the effect of aging on brain regional activity associated with chewing in dentulous persons, edentulous persons and denture wearing persons.Three groups of neurologically healthy subjects were included in this study:a dentulous group, edentulous group, denture wearer group (A subject of this group is the same as edentulous group. ). The task paradigm was the random chewing of wax cube. The wax cubes essentially was without the odor and taste components.In agreement with a previous finding, in all groups, chewing was associated with significant increases in the BOLD signal in various regions of the brain. In addition, in dentulous group and denture wearer group, BOLD signals were increased in the basal ganglia and cerebellum. In edentulous group, BOLD signals were not increased in the basal ganglia and cerebellum.The activity pattern of the brain may change by the loss of the tooth and denture wearing.