Article

Functional units, chewing, swallowing, and food avoidance among the elderly.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry (impact factor: 1.32). 07/1997; 77(6):588-95.
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT The number of teeth in the dentition was compared with the number and types of dental functional units (opposing tooth pairs) to correlate the number of functional units with complaints about chewing and swallowing in the elderly.
Complaints of oral pharyngeal function and food avoidance practices were compared with the number and types of functional units. A convenience sample of 602 elderly subjects (468 men, 134 women, mean age 70 years) were interviewed and examined dentally.
Functional unit measures, which included functional arrangement of the teeth and the number and type of teeth present, were found to be more discriminatory and descriptive of masticatory potential than the more number of teeth. Elderly persons (> or = 60 years of age) with reduced numbers of functional units tended to report difficulty chewing, avoidance of stringy foods (including meat), crunchy foods (including vegetables), and dry solid foods (including breads), and difficulty in swallowing. Removable prostheses did not appear to prevent these consequences and, at least in this elderly population, did not appear to be equivalent to natural teeth in terms of masticatory potential.
It is possible that compromised dental function results in the swallowing of poorly chewed food, food avoidance patterns, dietary inadequacies, and systemic changes favoring illness, reduced vigor, debilitation, and shortened life expectancy. Emphasis should be placed on maintaining natural teeth whenever possible.

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    Marie-H�l�ne Lacoste-Ferr�, Sophie Hermabessi�re, Yves Rolland
    02/2012; , ISBN: 978-953-51-0080-5
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    Article: Comparison of the OHIP-14 and GOHAI as measures of oral health among elderly in Lebanon.
    Nada El Osta, Stephanie Tubert-Jeannin, Martine Hennequin, Nada Bou Abboud Naaman, Lana El Osta, Negib Geahchan
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Background The respective abilities of the GOHAI and OHIP-14 to discriminate between aged patients with different levels of oral diseases have rarely been studied in developing countries. The aim of this study was to compare the discriminative abilities of the OHIP-14 and the GOHAI in an elderly Lebanese population, and particularly to identify persons with different masticatory function.MethodsA sample of elderly, aged 65 years or more, living independently was recruited in two primary care offices in Beirut, Lebanon. Data were collected by means of personal interview and clinical examination. The Arabic OHIP-14 and GOHAI questionnaires were used after cultural adaptation for use in Lebanon. The internal consistency, reproducibility and concurrent validity were verified. To test their discriminative abilities, the ADD (GOHAI and OHIP) and SC (GOHAI and OHIP) scores were dichotomized according to the 25th and 75th percentile respectively and logistic regressions were conducted using socio-demographic, clinical and subjective explanatory variables.ResultsTwo hundred and six participants were included; mean age was 72 years and 60% were women. Good psychometric properties were observed for both questionnaires for internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha>0.88), reproducibility (ICC>0.86) and concurrent validity. Strong correlations were found between GOHAI and OHIP-14 scores but a high prevalence of subjects with no impact was observed using the OHIP-14. Both questionnaires were able to discriminate between participants according to age, perception of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain or functional status as represented by the number of dental Functional Units (FU). GOHAI was more discriminant since it identified participants with high dental care needs: high numbers of decayed teeth, low numbers of teeth and socially deprived status.Conclusions Lebanese elderly with high dental care needs and impaired oral health were identified more easily with the GOHAI. These results may guide the choice of dental indicators to use in a national geriatric survey.
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    Article: Association between food intake and oral health in elderly: SEPAHAN systematic review no. 8.
    Shantia Kazemi, Ghazal Savabi, Saber Khazaei, Omid Savabi, Ahmad Esmaillzadeh, Ammar Hassanzadeh Keshteli, Peyman Adibi
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    ABSTRACT: Dental status may influence food intake. The aim of this review was to summarize the earlier investigations on the association between food intake and dental status. We searched the electronic databases of PubMed and the Cochrane library for articles published until 30 February, 2012. To reach the related published articles, Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms of 'oral health,' 'masticatory performance,' 'dental status,' and 'eating' or 'food intake' were used. We included all research articles in the English language that (1) had used the random sampling method, and (2) had investigated the association between dental status and nutrient intake in elderly, non-denture wearer individuals, with no systemic illness. The findings of the seven original research articles had a great variation. Four of them supported a strong association between dietary intake and dental status and three of them found that there was no association between these variables. Most investigations found a significant relationship between the oral health status and nutrient intake; however, longitudinal studies were required for a better understanding of the diet-oral health relations.
    Dental research journal 12/2011; 8(Suppl1):S15-S20.

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Keywords

602 elderly subjects
 
age 70 years
 
compromised dental function results
 
convenience sample
 
crunchy foods
 
dental functional units
 
dry solid foods
 
elderly
 
Elderly persons
 
elderly population
 
food avoidance patterns
 
food avoidance practices
 
Functional unit measures
 
functional units
 
included functional arrangement
 
life expectancy
 
oral pharyngeal function
 
poorly chewed food
 
report difficulty chewing
 
stringy foods
 

G H Hildebrandt