The aim of the present study was to investigate the applicability of different masticatory function tests as a clinical assessment tool for persons in need of care of different ages and with different types of dentures in order to obtain a primary evaluation of oral health. Prior to the start of the main clinical assessments, a relevance test was first performed on 40 nursing and retirement home residents as part of preliminary investigations and they were asked to provide their own evaluation of their oral health. The entire study included a total of 70 volunteers aged between 18 and 99 years from various nursing homes as well as clinical institutions. In addition to performing the chewing function test with carrots (MDA-App) and fruit gums, which served as a primary assessment of a dental treatment need, the test persons were examined by a dentist and finally asked for a personal evaluation of the chewing function tests. The dental findings served as the reference method. The results of the chewing function tests corresponded well with the clinical findings in both cases (AUC value of the MDA: 0,72; AUC value of the fruit gum test: 0,78). Both chewing function tests achieved high sensitivity results, with the fruit gum test at 100 % being slightly better than the MDA at 83,3 %. In contrast, in the specificity analysis, the MDA with 59,6 % showed slightly better results than the fruit gum test with 55,8 %. The MDA as well as the fruit gum test showed a statistically significant lower average age of test persons correctly identified as healthy compared to those incorrectly and correctly identified as needing treatment (p weiterlesen