Premium
A Practical Class to Teach Masticatory Efficiency for Dental Students
Author(s) -
Rocha Maria Jose Alves,
Silva Mauro Ferreira,
Garcia Dorival,
MestrinerJúnior Wilson
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.740.14
Subject(s) - masticatory force , volunteer , dentistry , chewing gum , chemistry , medicine , food science , agronomy , biology
The aim was to set up a practical class to teach the students about the several factors that can affect masticatory efficiency. Before starting the test we asked that the student volunteers to report whether or not they have any masticatory problem and to masticate a piece of parafilm or a sugar‐free chewing gum for 20 seconds to remove any resting muscular memory. Subsequently, they are instructed to masticate the way they usually do a Me Mastig® capsule made of polyvinyl acetate filled with beads containing a calcium chlorid fuchsin dye. After 20 seconds, the beads (fragmented or not) are collected and the content is dissolved in 5 ml of water and agitated for 30 seconds. The solution is then filtered through filter paper and the fuchsin dye quantified by spectrophotometry. The masticatory force of each volunteer is then calculated by regression analysis of the extracted fuchsin concentration against a standard curve generated from a force‐controlled masticatory apparatus. As future dentists, the students are instructed to discuss the problems that the volunteer students reported and discuss the possible factors affecting the respective masticatory efficiency.