Why Chewing Still Matters for Recovery, Satiety and Quality of Life
Presented by Reva Barewal, DDS, MS
Originally Broadcast May 7, 2025
Webinar Description: Chewing is more than just a prelude to swallowing—it’s a powerful tool for stimulating oral sensation, improving bolus control, and supporting the neuromuscular coordination essential for safe and satisfying eating. While safety is paramount, traditional dysphagia diets often minimize or eliminate the need to chew—making it challenging to restore this essential movement as part of rehabilitation.
In this dynamic session, Dr. Reva Barewal will explore how medically tailored transitional foods, that are dissolvable solids, can help bridge the gap between safety and function. These foods uniquely support the pre-oral and oral preparatory phases, offering valuable sensory input, promoting mastication, and enhancing anticipation for swallowing.
Join us as we dive into how chewing can and should make a comeback as a rehabilitative strategy, but also as a compensatory strategy that improves satiety, engagement, and quality of life for people on modified diets, and how transitional foods support that goal.
Expect a mix of evidence-based insights, clinical case applications, and practical strategies to bring flavor, function, and fun back to the dysphagia table.
Length: 1 Hour
Target Audience: Speech-language pathologists, healthcare professionals who work with patients with dysphagia, people with swallowing disorders, loved ones and family members of people with swallowing disorders
Learner Objectives:
- Identify clinical strategies for integrating transitional foods into dysphagia management to promote motor learning, improve patient engagement, and support quality of life across patient populations.
- Define dissolvable solids and describe how they differ from standard texture-modified foods in terms of sensory engagement and oral motor activation.
- Describe the role of chewing in the oral preparatory phase, and how transitional foods can safely support the reintroduction of mastication within the context of dysphagia rehabilitation.
Meet the Presenter
Reva Barewal, DDS, MS
Dr. Reva Barewal is a prosthodontist and French-trained chef who has spent over two decades at the intersection of oral health, function, and culinary joy. With academic appointments in both dentistry and sleep medicine, her passion lies now in redefining how medically tailored transitional foods can support therapy and supplement nutrition.
As the founder and CEO of Savorease Therapeutic Foods, she leads innovation in dissolvable textures that empower both patients and providers. Her clinical research explores the nutritional, functional, and emotional value of texture in modified diets.
Disclosures
Financial: Dr. Reva Barewal is the CEO and Founder of Savorease Therapeutic Foods and holds partial ownership of this company. She has received research grant funding from myFace.org and NYU Langone.
Non financial: Dr. Reva Barewal is a co-investigator on current research projects with the University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin, and Cleveland Clinic. Additionally, she is a member of the USTIRG (U.S. Technical Implementation Task Group for IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative).
CEUs: .01 ASHA CEUs was offered for the live broadcast of this webinar. No ASHA CEUs are available for viewing the recording.
Cost: FREE. This webinar has been made free to all registrants thanks to a generous unrestricted educational grant provided by Bracco Diagnostics and the educational sponsors of the NFOSD.
NFOSD Educational Sponsors
