Abstract
Masticatory efficiency in older adults is an important parameter for the assessment of their oral health and quality of life. This study presents a measurement method based on the automatic segmentation of two-coloured chewing gum based on a <em>K</em>-means clustering algorithm. The solution proposed aims to quantify the mixed areas of colour in order to evaluate masticatory performance in different dental conditions. The samples were provided by ‘two-colour mixing’ tests, currently the most used technique for the evaluation of masticatory efficacy, because of its simplicity, low acquisition times and reduced cost. The image analysis results demonstrated a high discriminative power, providing results in an automatic manner and reducing errors caused by manual segmentation. This approach thus provides a feasible and robust solution for the segmentation of chewed samples. Validation was carried out by means of a reference software, demonstrating a good correlation (<em>R</em><sup>2 </sup>= 0.64) and the higher sensitivity of the proposed method (+75 %). Tests on patients with different oral conditions demonstrated that the <em>K</em>-means segmentation method enabled the automatic classification of patients with different masticatory conditions, providing results in a shorter time period (20 chewing cycles instead of 50).
Highlights
In the twenty-first century, the population aged 65 and over has increased, and forecasts confirm this to be a continuing trend
According to the World Health Organization [1], having a good state of oral health is about much more than just having healthy teeth; poor oral health is one of the most frequent causes of malnutrition, which can have a large impact on daily life
The aim of the present study was to propose an automatic colour-based segmentation method to separate mixed and unmixed colours of images derived from the application of a two-colour mixing test
Summary
In the twenty-first century, the population aged 65 and over has increased, and forecasts confirm this to be a continuing trend. This is mainly due to a general increase in mean life expectancy and to a decrease in the birth rate ( in Western countries) [1]. Quality of life depends largely on the prevention and control of disease, and one health condition that affects the quality of life is oral health. According to the World Health Organization [1], having a good state of oral health is about much more than just having healthy teeth; poor oral health is one of the most frequent causes of malnutrition, which can have a large impact on daily life. Many activities can become difficult for older adults, such as eating adequately and satisfactorily, speaking fluently and correctly, smiling, laughing, showing one’s teeth without embarrassment and maintaining gratifying family and social relationships [2]
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