Effects of masticatory muscle training on maximum bite force and muscular endurance

Abstract

Objective. This study evaluates the effects of chewing training on strength and endurance of the masticatory muscles. Materials and methods. Of the 49 healthy young adults included in the study, nine served as controls for a baseline measurement of bite force. The 40 participants who actively trained their masticatory muscles were randomly divided into a ‘continuous training group' (CTG) and an ‘intermittent training group' (ITG). The participants performed oral motor training by clenching silicon tubes (Chewy Tubes™) according to a designed protocol. The muscular strength was studied in terms of maximum bite force. Muscular endurance was evaluated by measuring the duration for which the participants held 50% of their maximum bite force value. Results. Both the maximum bite force and the muscular endurance capacity increased after intensive training for both groups. After 2 months, the ITG stopped training for 1 month. At this point, a significant difference was identified both in the mean bite force values and the mean muscular endurance duration: the ITG exhibited lower values. For both groups, the highest values were attained after 3 months of training. The maximum bite force values and the muscular endurance duration were observed to follow similar patterns. The effects attained decreased rapidly in both groups when the training stopped. Conclusions. For both the continuous and intermittent training groups, 4 months of chewing exercises strengthened masticatory muscles, but such effects diminished gradually for both groups when the exercises stopped.