The purpose of this study is to develop the wax cubes that have desired physical properties, for evaluating the chewing ability. The manufacturing and evaluating process can be done domestically. The developed wax cubes can be used to evaluate the chewing ability in variant ages of subjects. Four types of wax; Bee wax, Carnauba wax, Paraffin wax and Microcrystalline wax were blended until achieved the desired physical properties to create10x10x10 mm. wax cubes. Forty-five subjects (21 males and 24 females) with normal occlusion were classified into 3 groups (Group1: 20-29 years old, Group2: 30-39 years old, Group3: 40-49 years old). The wax cubes were disinfected and stored in the incubator (37°C) for 24 hours then soaked in water bath (37°C) for 10 minutes prior testing. Each subject was assigned to chew four pieces of wax cubes for ten strokes at habitual position. The chewed wax was captured and analyzed by Image J program (NIH) then calculated percent of well mixed color. The results showed that the average percentage of chewing ability in Group 1, 2 and 3 are 25.31±4.43, 23.60±5.65, 16.46±5.52 respectively. One-way ANOVA showed the differences between Group 1 and 3, Group 2 and 3 are statistically significant. However, no statistically significant was obtained between genders in each group. As the result, the developed wax cubes can be used to identify chewing ability among 3 groups with uncomplicated manufacturing and evaluating process. Also, this study indicates that chewing ability and age of subjects are negatively correlated.
