全部床義歯装着の有無が舌圧および舌骨上筋群の筋活動，嚥下機能に及ぼす影響

Effects of wearing and removing dentures on tongue pressure, suprahyoid muscle activity and swallowing function

　本研究の目的は，全部床義歯装着の有無が舌圧および舌骨上筋群筋活動，嚥下機能に及ぼす変化を比較検討することである．対象は上下とも全部床義歯を使用している65歳以上の高齢者18名（79.5±5.8歳，男性14名，女性4名）．方法は義歯の有り無し条件で最大舌圧，努力嚥下時舌圧，舌圧測定時の舌骨上筋群の筋活動，反復唾液嚥下テスト（RSST），改訂水飲みテスト（MWST），水飲みテスト（WST）の評価を行い，義歯の有り無し条件で比較した．その結果，義歯無し条件の最大舌圧は，義歯有り条件に比べ有意に高い値を示した（p＝0.001）．一方で，努力嚥下時舌圧や最大舌圧測定時および嚥下時舌圧測定時の舌骨上筋群筋活動量，RSST，MWST，WSTは義歯の有り無し条件で有意な差はなかった．本研究の結果から，最大舌圧は義歯の無し状態で測定すると見かけ上の数値が高くなる可能性が考えられた．そのため，義歯が無い患者の最大舌圧を評価する場合，舌圧データの解釈に注意が必要である．

　The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of complete dentures on tongue pressure, suprahyoid muscle activity and swallowing function. The subjects were 18 elderly patients (79.5±5.8 years, 14 males and 4 females) aged 65 years or older who routinely used complete dentures on both the upper and lower jaws. The subjects were evaluated on maximal tongue pressure, tongue pressure during effortful swallowing, muscle activity of the suprahyoid muscles during tongue pressure measurement, the repetitive salivary swallowing test (RSST), the revised water swallow test (MWST), and the water swallow test (WST), with and without wearing dentures, and the results were compared between the two conditions. The results showed that maximum tongue pressure without dentures was significantly higher than that with dentures (p＝0.001). On the other hand, there were no other significant differences found between the two conditions. The results of this study suggest that the apparent value of maximal tongue pressure may be higher when measured without dentures. Therefore, care should be taken in interpreting tongue pressure data when evaluating maximal tongue pressure in patients without dentures.