Objectives: In order to gain insight into the behaviour of human masticatory mucosa during function, this study was to evaluate the mucosa displacement of adult hard palate mucosa under different load conditions. Methods: Twelve volunteers (6 males, 6 females) were enrolled in this study (mean age: 26.2 yrs). Loading device and linear variable displacement transducer (LVDT) were attached to the maxillary teeth. A trial consisting of two constant loads lasted for 30 seconds was applied on palatal mucosa, and 20 cyclic loads of 0.5 Hz was also tested between constant loads. The load magnitudes used were 2 and 4 Nt in two different sessions, and the changes in mucosal displacement (displacement percentage and incline slope) were recorded and analyzed. Results: It was found that human palatal mucosa exhibited 2-phased displacement under constant loading. By multiple regression analysis, displacement percentage showed higher predictability in the first phase (R²=0.572), and incline slope was more explainable (R²=0.439) in the second phase. In phase 1, repeated loads and load magnitude showed positive influence on displacement percentage of mucosa (p<0.05); on the contrary, thicker mucosa and higher load rate resulted in significantly less displacement percentage (p<0.05). In phase 2, only higher load resulted in steeper incline slope (p<0.01). However, repeated loads of the same force leaded to less steep incline slope (p<0.01). With paired-t test, incline slopes of displacement peaks in cyclic load did not show significant difference between different load magnitudes (p=0.98). Conclusion: Under constant load, human masticatory mucosa showed viscoelastic property, and different displacement behaviour was noted between cyclic and constant loads. Creep behavior of oral mucosa should further be clarified in future studies.

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