Impact of Wearing Dentures on Dietary Intake, Nutritional Status, and Eating: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: A key purpose of denture provision is to enable eating, yet the body of evidence pertaining to the impact of dentures on wide-ranging nutritional outcomes has not been systematically reviewed. Objectives: To systematically review published evidence pertaining to the effect of wearing removable dental prosthesis on dietary intake, nutritional status, eating function, and eating related–quality of life (ERQoL). Methods: Eight questions relating to the impact of wearing dentures on nutritional outcomes were addressed. The target population was healthy adults aged ≥18 y. Data sources included Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PubMed. Included were all human epidemiologic studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa score was used for appraisal of study quality. Harvest plots, vote counting, and accompanying narrative provided the basis for synthesis. Results: Of the 1,245 records identified, 134 were retrieved and eligibility assessed by 2 reviewers, and 41 studies were included in the synthesis (14 rated good quality, 20 fair, and 7 poor). The balance of data supported a positive impact of wearing full (5/7 studies) or partial (3/3 studies) dentures (vs. no dentures) on nutritional status, though no clear direction of effect was detected for the impact of dentures on dietary intake. The balance of data clearly showed that objective measures of eating function were compromised in full (14/15 studies) and partial (6/7 studies) denture wearers as compared with the dentate. Data showed that ERQoL was also compromised in denture wearers as compared with the dentate (3/3 studies). However, data showed a positive impact of wearing dentures on ERQoL (5/5 studies) as opposed to wearing no dentures. Conclusion: The balance of evidence shows that despite no clear pattern on impact of wearing dentures on measured dietary intake, in those with tooth loss, wearing dentures can have a positive impact on nutritional status and enjoyment of eating. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this systematic review can be used to advocate for health care services to address prosthodontic need to benefit nutritional outcomes. The findings will be of use in educating health care professionals on the impact of wearing dentures and not addressing prosthodontic need on nutritional outcomes.

Eating Advice for People Who Wear Dentures: A Scoping Review

“…However, no reference was made to support this suggestion. Based on what is known of the functional limitations of dentures on eating function [ 9 ], it is unlikely that those who wear dentures are able to maintain the diet they had when they had natural teeth, and such advice might give those who are new to dentures unrealistic expectations.…”

“…Provision of dentures improves chewing and biting function but not to the extent of a dentate person [ 9 ]. People that wear dentures report problems with biting, chewing, pain on eating, denture-related stomatitis, sore mouth, reduced flavour perception, embarrassment caused by foods sticking to dentures, and limitations in food choice [ 10 , 11 ].…”

“…Data are contained within the article and Appendix. The protocol for the review is available on Figshare [ 9 ]. The URLs to the websites identified in the searches are provided in the article ( Appendix A Table A3 ).…”

Nutritional Assessment of Denture Wearers Using Matched Electronic Dental‐Health Record Data

“…Besides, it is costly, takes years to generate results, and may not be generalizable to the treat-ment effectiveness delivered in real-world settings. 49,50 With the digitization of patient care documentation, harnessing electronic health record (EHR) and electronic dental record (EDR) data allows the study of all patients and facilitates longitudinal studies, which are not possible with traditional methods. The potential to link data from disparate data sources such as the EDR and EHR of patients also enables us to study the effect of oral health treatments on their overall health over a longer time.…”

“…A recent systematic review showed that dentures helped reduce the risk of undernutrition in the edentulous, however, the eating function and eating related quality of life was reduced compared to dentate individuals. Compared to dentate individual's denture wearers had a lower dietary intake, but studies were of poor quality with no application of validated nutritional assessment 48 …”