Improvements in oral functions of elderly after simple oral exercise

Figures & data

Table 1 Participant characteristics

Variable		n (%)
Age, years
	65–69	18 (21.4)
	70–79	52 (61.9)
	≥80	14 (16.7)
Sex
	Male	21 (25.0)
	Female	63 (75.0)
Education
	Elementary school or less	38 (45.2)
	Middle school graduate	14 (16.7)
	High school graduate	20 (23.8)
	University or more	12 (14.3)
Smoking status
	Current	4 (4.8)
	Ex-smoker	9 (10.7)
	Never	71 (84.5)
Number of medications
	None	14 (16.7)
	1	34 (40.5)
	2	30 (35.7)
	≥3	6 (7.2)
Denture wear
	No	55 (65.5)
	Removable partial denture	19 (22.6)
	Complete denture	10 (11.9)
Body mass index, kg/m^2
	≤22.9	29 (34.5)
	23–24.9	22 (26.2)
	≥25	33 (39.3)
Total		84 (100)

Table 2 Changes in oral functions across all subjects after simple oral exercise intervention

Variable	n	Baseline	Immediate	1 week	P-value
Masticatory performance	73	61.68±13.04^A	65.75±12.23^B	64.55±13.06^AB	0.008^a
Unstimulated saliva secretion	84	0.26±0.15^A	0.28±0.15^A	0.34±0.20^B	<0.0001^a
Oral moisture degree
Tongue	84	27.27±3.00^A	28.15±1.90^B	28.03±1.90^B	0.005^a
Buccal mucosa	84	28.21±2.10^A	28.85±1.64^B	28.37±1.93^AB	0.023^a
Swallowing function	84				0.003^b
Poor		40 (47.6)	32 (38.1)	27 (32.1)
Good		44 (52.4)	52 (61.9)	57 (67.9)

Notes: ^aOne-way repeated measures ANOVA, Mean ± S.D.; different upper case letters denote significant differences between groups by Bonferroni post hoc analyses. ^bCochran’s Q test. n (%).

Table 3 Changes in oral functions after performing simple oral exercise intervention, according to oral functional abilities

Variable	Poor			Good
	Baseline	Immediate	1 week	Baseline	Immediate	1 week
Masticatory performance^a
	51.21±9.79^A	59.76±12.50^B	59.92±14.05^B	72.44±4.03	71.92±8.07	69.30±10.10
P-value^d	<0.0001			0.084
Unstimulated saliva secretion^b
	0.14±0.04^A	0.18±0.1^B	0.25±0.16^B	0.35±0.14^A	0.35±0.14^AB	0.41±0.20^B
P-value^d	0.001			0.012
Oral moisture
Tongue	26.98±3.42^A	28.50±1.95^B	28.42±1.60^B	27.48±2.67	27.89±1.84	27.74±2.07
P-value^d	0.002			0.511
Buccal mucosa	28.01±2.25	28.72±2.08	28.74±1.42	28.36±1.98^A	28.94±1.22^AB	28.10±2.21^B
P-value^d	0.063			0.034
Swallowing function^c
Poor	40 (100.0)	30 (75.0)	24 (60.0)	0 (0.0)	2 (4.5)	3 (6.8)
Good	0 (0.0)	10 (25.0)	16 (40.0)	44 (100.0)	42 (95.5)	41 (93.2)
P-value^e	<0.0001			0.247

Notes: ^aSubjects were dichotomized into good- and poor-chewing groups based on the median mixing ability index (65.38); ^bSubjects were dichotomized into good- and poor-salivation groups based on 0.20 ml/min; ^cSubjects were dichotomized into good- and poor-swallowing groups based on the repetitive saliva swallowing test; ^dOne-way repeated measures ANOVA, Mean ± S.D.; different upper case letters denote significant differences between groups by Bonferroni post hoc analyses.

Table 4 Changes in the numbers of subjects who experienced discomfort after performing simple oral exercise intervention

Questions	Baseline	1 week	P-value
Mastication
Difficulties in chewing hard food	39 (46.4)	19 (22.6)		<0.0001
Swallowing
Aspiration when drinking liquid	29 (34.5)	12 (14.3)		0.002
Oral dryness
Difficulties in swallowing food due to oral dryness	11 (13.1)	8 (9.5)		0.549
Feeling dry when eating a meal	23 (27.4)	12 (14.3)		0.049
Needing liquids in swallowing dry foods	33 (39.3)	25(29.8)		0.248

Notes: Data presented as n (%) unless otherwise indicated. P-value calculated based on McNemar’s test.