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脑不同区域的神经元活动。然而，关于牙齿缺失对人类高级脑功能的影响却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们使用功能磁共振成像来评估年龄对有牙、无牙和义齿佩戴者与咀嚼相关的大脑区域活动的影响。)。任务范式是随机咀嚼蜡块。这些蜡块基本上没有气味和味道成分。与之前的发现一致，在所有组中，咀嚼都与大脑不同区域大胆信号的显著增加有关。此外，有牙组和义齿佩戴组在基底节和小脑的BOLD信号增强。无牙组基底节和小脑BOLD信号未见增强，牙齿缺失和义齿磨损可改变脑的活动模式。

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.