Cowman, F; (2007) Can chewing exercises improve mastication and articulation? A comparison of two different treatments. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Jaw stability is thought to be necessary for adequate chewing skills and for articulator/ proficiency but it is not known whether chewing exercises, aimed at increasing jaw stability where weakness is suspected, would improve mastication and articulation. The effects of two different chewing therapies were investigated therapy tools (chewy tubes and ark grabbers) combined with food chewing exercises versus food chewing exercises alone. Effects on chewing performance, articulation and oral motor function were measured in two groups of children and compared with a control group. All children were aged between 4 0 to 5 11 years and had no known neurological impairment. Results found that therapy groups had significantly improved chewing performances. Non-significant trends suggested that children may have had improved articulation and oral motor skills following therapy. Finally, trends (non-significant) indicated that therapy tools combined with food chewing exercises may have been more beneficial on all measures. Therefore chewing exercises were found to have a significant effect on mastication and additional research is necessary to further investigate their effect on articulation.

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