Masticatory function and nutrition in old age

Schimmel, Martin; Katsoulis, Joannis; Genton, Laurence; Müller, Frauke (2015). Masticatory function and nutrition in old age. Swiss dental journal, 125(4), pp. 449-454. Schweizerische Zahnärzte-Gesellschaft SSO

Text Masticatory function and nutrition in old age.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (425kB) | Request a copy

Nowadays, many people retain their natural teeth until late in life as a result of the large success of preventive strategies. However, there is still a very high prevalence of edentulism especially in elderly patients and many of these patients are provided with inadequate dental prostheses. In addition, many elderly citizens suffer from systemic diseases leading to increased drug prescription with age. This may have direct or indirect negative effects on the health and integrity of oral tissues like teeth, mucosa or muscles. There is growing evidence that a close interaction between the general medical condition and oral health exists. From a dental point of view, the chewing ability and capacity and its interaction with the nutritional status seem to be especially important. For example, complete denture wearers present a significant oral disability, which often leads to a gradual deterioration of their individual dietary habits. The improvement of maximum bite force and chewing efficiency may be an important prerequisite for an adequate nutrition. Those functional parameters can often be improved by providing functional dental prostheses or by stabilizing complete dentures with endosseous implants. Nevertheless, an improvement of the nutritional status can only be achieved through a close collaboration with dieticians or clinical nutritionists.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

3 since deposited on 29 Mar 2016
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item