Clinical Anti-Aging Medicine: Anti-Aging Medicine from the Perspective of Oral Function

Anti-aging medicine aims for homogeneous aging and requires a cross-sectional approach aimed at overall health, as well as comprehensive knowledge that encompasses each area. The oral cavity is the entrance to the digestive tract and is positioned as an organ that has not only life science aspects necessary for maintaining life, such as respiration, occlusion and mastication, eating and swallowing, and saliva secretion, but also cultural aspects necessary for human life, such as speech and language, taste, and emotional expression. If the eating and swallowing function decreases, nutritional intake is impaired, and overall activity decreases immediately. If saliva secretion and respiratory function decrease, the risk of aspiration pneumonia and suffocation increases. Also, a decrease in taste and speech/language function greatly affects not only the quality of life (QOL) but also the maintenance of cognitive function. Mastication is programmed in the brainstem and operates based on sensory information from the periphery. Appetite is enhanced through smell and vision, and taste determines whether food is edible or not. The cerebrum works perceptually and cognitively, considering the appropriate intake method for the food. Eating affects overall physiological functions such as hypnotic effects and increased body temperature, and it is known that these changes are transmitted to the eating and satiety centers in the hypothalamus [1]. Humans chew food beautifully in coordination with the tongue, teeth, gums, and cheek mucosa under the presence of saliva. After forming a food bolus of the appropriate nature, the food is sent to the entrance of the esophagus by the swallowing reflex, which is a coordinated movement of the swallowing-related muscles, and is transferred to the esophageal sphincter by peristaltic movement and gravity, where it is digested. It is known that when the parts related to this eating and swallowing function weaken due to aging, eating and swallowing disorders occur, leading to malnutrition (Fig. 79.1). Approximately 70% of the muscles in the maxillofacial region exist around the oral cavity, and if the masticatory ability decreases with age, it leads to a decrease in QOL due to oral function disorders. The development of various coping methods is expected, and it is an issue that must be addressed.