Background: Good dental status is essential for maintaining good eating ability and good nutritional status, especially in the elderly. Dental status often deteriorates as people age and wearing denture is a good alternative. Many elderly choose fixed denture while others choose removable denture.
Objective: The study was aimed to compare the impact of the two types of denture, fixed vs. removable, on eating ability, food choice and nutritional status in elderly Taiwanese.
Method: This study analyzed 1999 data of the "Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, SHLSET", a survey study conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion of Taiwan. Subjects who were 65 y or older in 1999 and wore either fixed or removable dentures were included in the study. The nutritional risk status of each subject was screened with a modified version of the short form MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) that adopted population-specific anthropometric cut-points. Regression analysis was employed to determine the factors that impact nutritional status and denture selection.
Results: Of the 4440 subjects, 2770 were 65 y or older. Among them 1239 (59.8%) elderly wore removable dentures and 831 elderly wore fixed dentures. A greater proportion (25.5%) of the removable denture- wearers was at risk of malnutrition compared to those who wore fixed denture (21.1%). Removable denture-wearers had greater risk of malnutrition, poorer eating ability, poorer self-view nutritional status, and ate less vegetables, based on Chi-square tests. However, regression analysis showed that gender, age, residential areas, eating ability, food intake, self-view nutritional and health statuses, but not the type of denture were associated with one's nutritional status. Regression analysis also showed that age,
gender, residential location, betel-nut chewing and BMI were significant predictors for choosing the removable denture.
Conclusion: Elderly who wear removable denture appear to have reduced eating ability and increased risk of malnutrition. However, after controlling for the confounding factors, the type of denture worn by the elderly is not significantly associated with the risk of malnutrition. These results suggest that other factors associated with aging can interact with denture types and impact the nutritional risk status.
