Manometric evaluation of oral function with a hand-held balloon probe

Tongue pressure measured with a disposable hand-held balloon probe has been used for assessing tongue function; however, no diagnostic standard for assessing other oral functions exists currently. In this study, to develop a method for multifactorial manometric evaluation of oral functions, 20 men and 20 women (21-32 years of age) were instructed to apply 7 s maximal voluntary muscular effort on a hand-held balloon probe placed against the anterior and lateral parts of the palate, buccal surface of the molars on the habitual chewing side and labial surface of the anterior teeth for measuring anterior and posterior tongue, cheek and lip pressures (LPs), respectively. Intra-session reproducibility was determined by three repeated measurements, and associations between the obtained and the conventional data on oral diadochokinesis were tested. The men exhibited higher values of all the pressure types. Further, both genders showed a positive correlation between anterior and posterior tongue pressures (PTPs) (P < 0.05), but only the women exhibited positive correlations between anterior tongue and cheek pressures, cheek and PTPs, anterior tongue and LPs, and cheek and LPs (P < 0.05). No statistically significant correlation was found between the pressures and the number of syllabic articulations, except between LP and the number of /pa/ articulations in the women (r = 0.524, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the balloon probe method enables objective manometric evaluation of oral functions and could be an effective tool for clinical epidemiological studies and evidence-based decision-making in nursing care.