Mastication and Quality of life in elderly people suffering from dementia.

Exercise is thought to be beneficial for prevention and treatment of cognitive problems, mood disorders and circadian rhythm disturbances in elderly suffering from dementia.
Improved cardiovascular health and increased brain perfusion are considered to be explanatory mechanisms for this effect.
Mastication induces similar bodily responses as exercise, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure and brain perfusion.
Furthermore, impaired mastication (by means of removal of the molar teeth or by offering soft food) negatively effects the performance of mice in maze tasks, and leads to hippocampal neuron loss. Since the hippocampus is associated with both spatial orientation and memory, these findings indicate that impaired mastication leads to memory loss, amongst others. In humans, correlations have been found between mastication and memory, attention and performance on several executive functioning tasks; i.e. when chewing a piece of gum the performance improves.

Increased and improved mastication will improve (or, slow down the loss of) cognition, mood and circadian rhythm of elderly people suffering from dementia.

Base line at 0 weeks;

Follow up at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months.

Intervention-Increased masticatory activity achieved through improved oral health care and diet.