Influence of denture improvement on the nutritional status and quality of life of geriatric patients

Recent research suggests that there is a correlation between nutrition, oral health, dietary habits, patients’ satisfaction and their socio-economic status. However, the dependent and independent variables have remained unclear. Objective This exploratory interventional study aimed to identify the impact of denture improvement on the nutritional status as well as the oral health-related quality of life in geriatric patients. Materials and methods Forty-seven patients who were capable of feeding themselves (minimum age: 60 years) and with dentures requiring repair or replacement were selected from a random sample of 100 residents of two nursing homes. Before and 6 months after the dentures were optimised a Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and a masticatory function test were carried out. Nutritional markers (pre-albumin, serum albumin, zinc) were determined and an OHIP-G14 (Oral Health Impact Profile, German version) was recorded in order to determine the effect of the optimised oral situation on the patientʹs nutritional status and oral health-related quality of life. Results Despite the highly significant improvement in masticatory ability after the optimisation of the dentures, no general improvement regarding the nutritional status was observed since the albumin, zinc and MNA values remained unchanged and pre-albumin even decreased. Conclusion Since masticatory ability and masticatory efficiency are not the only factors affecting this, prosthetic measures alone apparently cannot effect a lasting improvement in nutritional status as masticatory ability and masticatory efficiency are not the only factors of influence. Nutrition is not only a matter of masticatory function, but also depends on other influencing factors (e.g. habits, taste and cultural customs as well as financial and organisational aspects).