Lip‐closing pressure during food intake from a spoon in normal children

• Published in: Journal of oral rehabilitation 2021-06, Vol.48 (6), p.711-719
• Main Authors: Sasakawa, Yuki, Nakamura, Yuki, Saitoh, Issei, Nakajima, Tsutomu, Tsukuno, Saeko, Hozawa, Mio, Sotome, Tetsuya, Nogami, Yukiko, Kurosawa, Mie, Iwase, Yoko, Hayashi, Toyohiko, Hayasaki, Haruaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cheese; child development; Children; Dentistry; feeding behaviour; Food; Food intake; Lip; oral function; Pressure; Yogurt
• ISSN: 0305-182X; 1365-2842
• DOI: 10.1111/joor.13155

Background Understanding the refinement of self‐feeding skills is useful for the assessment of oral functional development in children. Objectives To determine normative data on lip closing during food intake in the development of independent spoon‐feeding in normal children, we tested the hypothesis that lip‐closing pressure and spoon operation differ depending on food type. Methods Fifteen normal children (eight boys, seven girls; mean age: 6.5 years) were asked to eat test foods (2, 3 and 5 g of yogurt and cream cheese) freely with a spoon. Lip‐closing pressures and kinematic data on spoon operation were recorded simultaneously with a strain gauge transducer embedded in the spoon and Vicon motion analysis, respectively. Results In the most common lip‐pressure pattern, only positive pressure was generated. In the second most common pattern, negative pressure occurred first, followed by positive pressure; this pattern was seen infrequently. Positive pressure (P