Intervention study of exercise program for oral function in healthy elderly people.

摘要

In Japan, one of the duties of the long-term care insurance system is the prevention of oral function degradation. Although various exercise programs for oral function have been developed and practiced in Japan, to date, no study has reported their effects. In the present study, we examined the effects of an exercise program on oral functions in healthy elderly people. Healthy elderly people participated in the study and were randomly divided into intervention and control groups (39 subjects/group). The exercise program consisted of four exercises: exercise for expression muscles, tongue, salivary glands, and swallowing. Before and after a six-month intervention period, we evaluated changes in oral functions, namely bite force, swallowing ability, and salivary flow rate. Fifty-four subjects completed the study protocol: 26 and 28 subjects from intervention and control groups, respectively. A significant improvement in all oral functions, including bite force, swallowing ability, as well as unstimulatedand stimulated salivary flow rate, was observed in the intervention group after six months, whereas no improvement was observed in the control group. Further, among the intervention group, a significant improvement in oral functions was observed in 17 subjects with 20 or more remaining teeth, whereas no improvement was observed in the other nine with less than 20 teeth. Our results suggest that oral functions significantly improve after conducting a six-month exercise program for oral function. Further, this improvement appears to be influenced by the number of remaining teeth.