BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Studies of normal oropharyngeal swallow in children are essential for the analysis of pediatric dysphagia. The purpose of this study is to define the temporal characteristics of the oropharyngeal swallow in children and to compare these data with young adults. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: This investigation evaluated oropharyngeal swallow physiology during swallows of pudding in 16 children (age 3-13) who had no swallowing complaints including velopharyngeal deficits after surgical treatment of cleft palate and submucous cleft, and 16 normal young adults with no swallowing complaints. temporal analysis of swallow in the children was compared with that of similar temporal measures in the 16 young adults (age 21-29). RESULTS: Temporal measures of pharyngeal swallow events in the children revealed significantly shorter pharyngeal response time, shorter duration of tongue base contact to the posterior pharyngeal wall and longer duration of tongue base posterior movement toward the pharyngeal wall as compared with the normal young adult subjects. CONCLUSION: These differences in the temporal measures of the pharyngeal swallow between children and adults could be the results of differences in the pharyngeal anatomy and the pharyngeal contraction pattern between children and adults. further study of a larger population of normal children is needed.
Adult ; Child* ; Cleft Palate ; Deglutition ; Deglutition Disorders ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Oropharynx ; Physiology ; Reaction Time ; Swallows ; Tongue ; Young Adult