Volume 24, Issue 104, July - August, 2020

Connections between tooth loss and adequate nutrition

Beáta Bolerázska¹, Richard Krotký¹, Janka Kluknavská², Silvia Timková¹, Janka Vašková^2♦

¹Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Tr. SNP 1, 040 11, Košice, Slovak Republic
²Department of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, PavolJozefŠafárik University in Košice, Tr. SNP 1, 040 66 Košice, Slovak Republic

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, PavolJozefŠafárik University in Košice, Tr. SNP 1 04066 Košice, Slovak Republic; Email: janka.vaskova@upjs.sk

ABSTRACT

Background: There is increasing evidence of the relationship between oral and general. Central to this role are the detrimental effects of tooth loss, particularly the associated change in diet. Objective: The aim of the work was to evaluate and compare nutritional status in elderly patients, over 60 years of age, for selected parameters, with the aim of preserving the state of teeth and prosthetic treatment. Results: We found that university-educated people were more concerned about the condition of their oral cavity; the loss of teeth was not as extensive as for subjects with less education and were mainly treated with fixed prostheses. When evaluating the responses of the nutritional questionnaire, there were more significant differences between the male and female groups, namely: two fifths of the examined men and three fifths of women achieved a score of 28 and below thus indicating for treatment for malnutrition. Correlation between score values and selected nutritional status assessment parameters was not confirmed, nor was the relationship with BMI. There were, however, statistically significant differences when differentiated by subjects’ level of education, confirming that educational attainment has an impact on dietary choices. One significant confirmation is also the association of the number of occluding pairs (NOP) of teeth in patients not reporting difficulties or restrictions in the choice of meals. Conclusions: Nutrition is known to be a key factor in the development of various diseases. Confirmed connections are directly applicable in dentistry to make patients aware of the consequences of decisions on maintaining the state of their teeth.

Keywords: dentition, malnutrition, nutrition status, occluding pairs, questionnaire

Medical Science, 2020, 24(104), 234-2244

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