本研究的目的在探討中老年人存留齒的數量及其健康狀況與咀嚼能力之相關性。採立意取樣的方式，以高雄市六家牙醫診所患者且年齡在四十五歲(含)以上之高雄市民為研究樣本，使用問卷調查配合口腔檢查的方式，並依牙齒健康狀況來定義存留齒的堪用與否，以蒐集每一樣本的堪用自然齒數、堪用齒數及對咬功能齒單位數，與食物問卷白評式咀嚼能力的相關資料。收案日期自2006年3月至10月，期間共收集有效樣本296人。研究結果顯示:年齡、堪用自然齒數，堪用齒數及對咬功能齒單位數均為影響中老年人咀嚼能力的預測因于;不論是堪用自然齒數或堪用齒數，若能保留二十顆(含)以上，或對咬功能齒單位數能保留十組(含)以上，就越能保有良好的咀嚼能力。總結來說，要降低年齡對中老年人咀嚼能力的衝擊，存留齒的數量及其健康狀況的維持是十分重要的。

l.Faculty of Dentistry， College of Dental Medicine， Kaohsiung Medical University， Kaohsiung， Taiwan.
2. Faculty of Dental Hygiene， College of Dental Medicine， Kaohsiung Medical University， Kaohsiung， Taiwan.
3. Division of Family Dentistry， Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital， Kaohsiung， Taiwan.
4. Division of Prosthodontics， Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital， Kaohsiung， Taiwan.
5. Departmental of Medical Records， Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital， Kaohsiung， Taiwan.
Investigations have been made on the correlations between chewing ability and the quantity and healthy status of remaining teeth of the middle-aged and elderly. A total of 296 persons aged 45 years and older who had visited one of six dental clinics in Kaohsiung city from March to October in 2006 were enrolled in this study. All these participants were requested to answer the questionnaires and received oral examination to record their numbers of remaining teeth sorted by healthy status of single tooth and self-reported chewing ability. Itwas found that four significant predictors of chewing ability among the middle-aged and elderly were: age， the number of good natural teeth， good teeth and functional tooth units. To have good chewing ability， it is important to maintain 20 or more remaining teeth (natural or fixed denture) or 10 pairs， at least， of functional tooth units.