Abstract
The purpose of this study is to verify the usefulness and practicality of the program in the daily life of the elderly by performing a three-dimensional tongue muscle exercise for the elderly to identify the dysphagia, swallowing ability, and tongue pressure. The subjects of the study were 29 elderly people aged 65 or older living in Busan, divided into a oral exercises group and tongue strength training program combined with oral exercises group, and operated 16 times for 8 weeks twice a week, and the pre and post-program evaluation was conducted in the 1st and 8th weeks. For variable selection, 7 general characteristics, 5 oral health-related characteristics, 5 Likert scale for swallowing disorder, repetitive swallowing ability test for swallowing power measurement, and tongue pressure measurement was used. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS window program 25.0 version (IBM), general characteristics and homogeneity tests, oral health-related characteristics and homogeneity tests were chi-square test, swallowing disorder, swallowing ability, and change in tongue pressure were paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test for swallowing disorder and changes in swallowing ability and tongue pressure, and Spearman’s correlation for the relationship between swallowing disorder and swallowing ability and tongue pressure. As a result of tongue strength training program combined with oral exercise, both relieve swallowing disorder and improve low eating and tongue pressure than oral exercise, and the difference in improvement effects of both relieve swallowing disorder, swallowing ability, and tongue pressure is higher. Based on the results of this study, it is believed that simple and practical oral muscle function reinforcement products and practical use are needed, and institutional devices to seek oral health promotion programs for the elderly are needed.
Figures & Tables
Fig. 1. Research process
