상실치아 보철 환자들에 있어서 편측저작과 청력 소실간의 관련성

Abstract

Objectives: Several previous studies reported that there were relationship between unilateral chewing habit and hearing loss of corresponding side. The aim of this study was to investigate association between hearing acuity and unilateral chewing after prosthetic treatment in elderly patients. Methods: The 24 subjects who had unilateral chewing habit due to unilateral loss of molar included this study. They were evaluated by oral exam and self questionnaire. The hearing level of subjects were measured by audiometer(ITO AE-1000, Japan) between baseline and after 1 month of dental implant prosthodontic treatment. The statistical significance of the data was identified by paired t-test. Results: There were no typical differences in hearing level between right and left ear who had unilateral chewing habit. There were statistically significant difference in 250 Hz of left ear in total 24 subjects. According to compare each unilateral chewing side, there were statistically significant difference in 4,000 Hz of right ear in right unilateral chewing subjects group and 125 Hz of left ear in left unilateral chewing subjects group. In 3 cases of total 24, we could find that prosthodontic treatment dramatically lead to a improvement in hearing levels. Conclusions: These clinical findings indicate that there is a some relationship between changes in hearing ability and removal of unilateral chewing by prostodontic treatment.