Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Predictive Measures Of Tooth/Tooth Contact In Mastication, Elizabeth Klodd

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Understanding the process of mastication, or chewing, is very important in humans. Understanding the way people chew can help craniofacial repair to victims of accidents or other conditions. Stages of chewing and swallowing have been categorized; however, it is currently unknown when exactly the teeth meet during mastication. Vertical motion data were obtained from seven subjects while chewing food of different consistencies. A videofluorograph collected the data and they were manipulated in Excel to be plotted as time vs. vertical displacement for the upper incisor tooth. The first and second derivatives of these motion-time charts were taken in order to …