Development of the sensory test method for evaluating the elderly people's occlusal condition

为了评估咬合状况，我们研制了用琼脂凝胶制成的测试食品来评估咀嚼力，用粘性淀粉凝胶制成的测试食品来评估舌头运动。76人参与了我们的研究。他们被要求咀嚼两种凝胶15秒，然后吐出来。用mathematica软件通过区域标记法对图像进行分析，测量咀嚼后颗粒的大小和数量。根据结果，老年人被分为四组。有一组能很好地咀嚼琼脂凝胶，但不能完全咀嚼淀粉凝胶。这意味着一些老年人的舌头不能很好地移动，因此他们口中的食物不能很好地搅拌。我们访问了法国斯特拉斯堡的三家养老院，调查了那里的饭菜。

To evaluate the occlusal condition, we developed the test food made of agar-gel to evaluate mastication power and that of starch-gel with sticky texture to evaluate the movement of the tongue. Seventy-six people cooperated our research. They were asked to masticate two kinds of gel for fifteen seconds and spit out. The size and the number of particles after mastication were measured by the picture analysis through the region labeling method using mathematica.According to the results, the elderly people were divided into four groups. There was a group who could well masticated agar-gel, but could not fully masticate the starch-gel. That means the tongues of some elderly people do not move well, and consequently the food in their mouth do not stir well.We visited three nursing homes in Strasbourg in France and surveyed the meals served at the homes.