Department of Prosthodontics, Dental School, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
J Oral Rehabil. 2020 Mar;47(3):377-385. doi: 10.1111/joor.12912. Epub 2019 Dec 8.
The oral health of seniors in nursing homes is compromised. Furthermore, reduced chewing efficiency is described to be associated with reduced cognition. However, studies investigating how prosthetic status affects the chewing efficiency of nursing home residents are not available.
To evaluate associations between prosthetic status, dementia and chewing efficiency of seniors in nursing homes.
This study was performed in nine nursing homes. In addition to assessing the general and medical data of the participants, a dental examination was assessed and the severity of dementia was evaluated by use of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Furthermore, chewing efficiency was assessed by use of a two-colour mixing ability test. Descriptive and bivariate statistics, as well as linear regression models with the dependent variable chewing efficiency and possible confounders, were used to analyse data at P < .05.
Complete target variables of 146 participants were analysed. The mean (SD) chewing efficiency of the study sample, as expressed by the variance of hue, was .590 (.250). The type of prosthesis used (P < .001), the number of occluding tooth pairs (P < .001) and the presence of dementia (P = .002) were the main variables significantly affecting chewing efficiency. The condition of removable dentures also had an effect (P = .016). Multivariate testing predominantly confirmed these associations.
The chewing efficiency of seniors in nursing homes is somewhat compromised. Beyond dental aspects, suffering from dementia seems to reduce the chewing efficiency. Further interventional/longitudinal studies are, however, encouraged to verify this outcome.
养老院老年人的口腔健康状况受损。此外，咀嚼效率降低与认知能力下降有关。然而，目前尚无研究调查义齿状况如何影响养老院居民的咀嚼效率。
评估养老院老年人的义齿状况、痴呆症与咀嚼效率之间的关系。
本研究在 9 家养老院进行。除了评估参与者的一般和医学数据外，还进行了口腔检查，并使用临床痴呆评定量表（CDR）评估痴呆症的严重程度。此外，还使用双色混合能力测试评估咀嚼效率。使用描述性和双变量统计以及具有依赖变量咀嚼效率和可能混杂因素的线性回归模型来分析 P<.05 时的数据。
分析了 146 名参与者的完整目标变量。研究样本的平均（标准差）咀嚼效率（以色调方差表示）为.590（.250）。义齿类型（P<.001）、咬合牙对数（P<.001）和痴呆症的存在（P=.002）是主要影响咀嚼效率的变量。可摘义齿的状况也有影响（P=.016）。多变量检验主要证实了这些关联。
养老院老年人的咀嚼效率有些受损。除了牙科方面，痴呆症似乎会降低咀嚼效率。然而，鼓励进一步的干预/纵向研究来验证这一结果。
