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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Health and Nutrition
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1456418

Masticatory Performance and Masticatory Behavior in Individuals with Eating Disorders: A pilot study

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim: The brief report aims to evaluate masticatory performance and components of chewing behavior in people with anorexia nervosa and compare it with a reference group of individuals with no history of eating disorders. Material and Methods: Eighteen women participated in the study: nine with anorexia nervosa (age 20.2±5.9) and nine as controls in a reference group without anorexia nervosa (age 23.6±0.9). Masticatory performance was assessed with a food comminution test. The participants also ate (chewed and swallowed) a second test food while their jaw movements were recorded to evaluate their chewing behavior. The number of comminuted pieces during the food comminution test, chewing cycles, chewing duration, and components like occlusal, and jaw opening/closing duration, were evaluated. Results: In comparison to the reference group the anorexia nervosa patients performed poorly in the food comminution test (P=0.007), and also chewed the test food significantly longer (P=0.004) and with significantly more chewing cycles (P=0.014). The results also showed a significantly longer jaw-closing duration in the anorexia nervosa group compared to the reference group (P=0.021). However, there were no significant differences in either the jaw opening or the occlusal duration between the two groups. Conclusion: Overall, the results of the study indicate that the anorexia nervosa group shows signs of poor masticatory performance and altered chewing behavior compared to the reference group of individuals with no history of eating disorders.

    Keywords: Masticatory function, jaw tracker, chewing, Anorexia Nervosa, Masseter Muscle, Viscoelastic food

    Received: 28 Jun 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kumar, Munirji, Langlet, Bostanci and Grigoriadis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anastasios Grigoriadis, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Solna, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.