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

近年来，咀嚼被认为可以增加人类大脑各个区域的神经元活动。然而，人们对牙齿脱落对人类高级脑功能的影响知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们使用功能磁共振成像来评估衰老对假牙者、无牙者和戴假牙者咀嚼相关的大脑区域活动的影响。本研究将神经系统健康的受试者分为三组：无牙组、无牙组、义齿佩戴者组（该组1名受试者与无牙组相同）。． 任务范例是随机咀嚼蜡块。蜡块基本上没有气味和味道成分。与先前的发现一致，在所有组中，咀嚼与大脑不同区域BOLD信号的显著增加有关。此外，假牙组和佩戴义齿组基底神经节和小脑BOLD信号增加。无牙组基底节区和小脑区BOLD信号均未升高。大脑的活动模式可能会因牙齿脱落和假牙佩戴而改变。

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.