PURPOSE: to determine time for food maceration of bread and cake; and consider whether there is an association among: age; edentulism time; oral opening maximum; vertical dimension. METHODS: a study developed in a Dentistry Clinic School, Pernambuco Federal University (UFPE), with old women with total edentulous attended during second time school in 2006; sample: 33 participants. In order to measure the vertical dimension, a phonetic method was used, with digital pachymeter, the same used to measure the maximum oral opening. For maceration time we used French bread and cake, employing a stopwatch. Each food was macerated three times, and we considered the last time duration, in seconds. Descriptive analysis was performed, with tabular presentation, in addition to descriptive measures' calculation: average, median, minimum, maximum, standard deviation. For comparative analysis of qualitative variables we used independence chi-square test or Fisher's exact test whenever necessary, and all conclusions were taken at a 5% significance level. RESULTS: cake average maceration: 18.1 ± 6.2 seconds; bread: 38.3 ± 22.9 seconds; average age: 67.4 ± 6.8 years; average oral opening maximum: 46.1 ± 7,0 mm; average vertical dimension: 55.2 ± 6.2 mm; average edentulism time 22,9 ± 12,98 years. Maceration times have not been meaningful when associated with the studied variables, because all p-values have been greater than 0.05. CONCLUSION: no statistics evidences were found that the studied factors were linked to food maceration times in the studied sample.
Aged; Tooth Loss; Mastication
