Relationship between masticatory performance and heart rate variability: A pilot study

Abstract

Objective. Little information is available on how impaired masticatory performance relates to heart-rate variability (HRV). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between HRV indices and masticatory performance. Materials and methods. Sixty-five subjects (19 men and 46 women, 66.1 ± 9.9 years old) who had received periodontal maintenance care at the Clinic of Preventive Dentistry of Okayama University Hospital were selected for the study. All subjects completed written questionnaires, a chewing (colour-changing gum) test for masticatory performance and measurement of occlusal force and HRV as well as oral examination. Results. The high sympathetic activity (LF ≥ 49.6) group showed a significantly lower level of masticatory performance (a* value) than the low sympathetic activity group (p < 0.05). There were also significant correlations of masticatory performance with LF and LF/HF (p < 0.05). Conclusion. These findings suggest that there is relationship between masticatory performance and HRV indices and impaired masticatory performance may be a risk factor for inducing high sympathetic activity.

Key Words::

• mastication
• heart rate variability
• stress
• chewing
• sympathetic activity

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (22592331, 23792512) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan. We are grateful to Ms Sayuri Yamada (Okayama University, Okayama, Japan) for helping data entry.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.