Geriatric assessment in dentistry : Areview of chewing function tests

Abstract

Due to increasing life expectancy and the associated demographic changes, more and more people are dependent on care. To identify apossible need for dental treatment, chewing function tests as assessment instruments have proven their effectiveness. In this article, the reader is given an overview of existing chewing function tests and their implementation. It is important that apatient with pain should be presented to adentist immediately, regardless of whether achewing function test is performed. Furthermore, chewing function tests are not asubstitute for routine dental examinations, but they could provide information to (dental) laypersons as to whether an appointment should be arranged in adental practice or whether adental consultation is necessary.