Department of Dental Medicine and Academic Centre for Geriatric Dentistry, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Folktandvården Stockholms län AB, Stockholm, Sweden.
Gerodontology. 2021 Jun;38(2):199-208. doi: 10.1111/ger.12515. Epub 2020 Nov 27.
To explore older individuals' experienced masticatory ability and the impact of masticatory ability in daily life.
This study applied an open-ended exploratory approach using inductive reasoning. The design was inspired by the qualitative method grounded theory. The final sample consisted of twelve older participants. Seven were men, and five were women. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interviewer successively read the transcribed data and analysed the material in cooperation with the authors.
Three categories developed from the data; Deteriorating oral health and functional loss, Eating habits, Prosthetic rehabilitation and function. A core category named Adaptation emerged. Adaptation describes how individuals successfully could adapt to a decreased function and in spite of this develop a positive view of their masticatory ability.
The participants described an experience of gradually deteriorating oral function that had affected their masticatory ability. By adapting to this functional degradation, some of the participants overcame the functional deficiencies. Most participants perceived their masticatory ability to be good, even though their ability to process some food types was described as inadequate.
The participants had experienced deteriorating oral health and function throughout life, and they overcame this through adaptation by adjusting their eating habits. Even though prosthetic treatment might be considered successful by the participant, this does not necessarily improve dietary habits. Future research should therefore focus on how dental treatment can be combined with other interventions, such as dietary counselling and physiotherapy to recover physiological function.
探讨老年人的咀嚼能力体验以及咀嚼能力对日常生活的影响。
本研究采用开放式探索方法，采用归纳推理。设计灵感来自定性方法扎根理论。最终样本包括 12 名老年人。其中 7 名男性，5 名女性。访谈进行了录音，并逐字转录。采访者依次阅读转录数据，并与作者合作分析材料。
从数据中得出了三个类别；口腔健康恶化和功能丧失、饮食习惯、修复体和功能。出现了一个核心类别，即适应。适应描述了个体如何成功适应功能下降，并在此基础上对自己的咀嚼能力形成积极的看法。
参与者描述了一种逐渐恶化的口腔功能体验，这影响了他们的咀嚼能力。通过适应这种功能退化，一些参与者克服了功能缺陷。大多数参与者认为他们的咀嚼能力良好，尽管他们处理某些食物类型的能力被描述为不足。
参与者一生都经历着口腔健康和功能的恶化，他们通过调整饮食习惯来适应这种情况。即使参与者认为修复治疗可能是成功的，但这并不一定能改善饮食习惯。因此，未来的研究应重点关注如何将牙科治疗与其他干预措施（如饮食咨询和物理治疗）相结合，以恢复生理功能。
