title: Oral health status and chewing ability is related to mini-nutritional assessment results in an older adult population in Thailand.
abstract: In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship of Mini-Nutrition Assessment (MNA) results with chewing ability tests and oral examinations (number of teeth present and functional tooth units (FTUs)). The participants were 612 older people (Mean [SD] age: 68.8 [5.9]). According to the MNA score, 25.1% of participants were categorized as having normal nutrition, 67.2% were categorized as at risk of malnourishment, and 7.7% were categorized as having malnutrition. The mean numbers of teeth present and FTUs were [15.5] and [8.9], respectively. The ANCOVA analyses adjusted for age and gender showed that participants with malnutrition had lower numbers of teeth present (8.8), FTUs (8.4), and chewing ability (6.8) than those with normal nutrition (13.3, 10.4 and 7.8) (p < 0.05). Nutritional status was associated with mean numbers of teeth present, FTUs, and chewing ability. Therefore, it was concluded that retention of natural teeth with appropriate numbers of FTUs by replacing missing teeth with dentures and improving chewing ability will help the reduce risk of malnutrition in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Promotion, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan. patcharaphols@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Patcharaphol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Samnieng
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shinada
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zaitsu
authors.forename: Fredrick Allan Clive
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003778:Dentures; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008409:Mastication; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009909:Oral Health; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology