O'Kane Ruairí, Watson Sinead, Woodside Jayne, McKenna Gerald J
Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Gerodontology. 2024 Mar;41(1):101-110. doi: 10.1111/ger.12689. Epub 2023 Apr 10.
We aimed to capture General Dental Practitioners' (GDPs) views on delivering dietary advice to older adults in combination with treatment to replace missing teeth and identify solutions to help inform the development and implementation of future dietary interventions within primary dental care.
As natural teeth are lost, older adults may need to choose softer, more manageable foods which might be of lower nutrient density. Previous research has indicated that prosthodontic rehabilitation can improve masticatory function but not the intake of nutrients, highlighting a potential need for a combined approach of oral rehabilitation and dietary counselling.
Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with a purposive sampling strategy of 12 GDPs. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. An iterative coding process using theme-analytic methods was used.
Twelve interviews were conducted with GDPs in the United Kingdom. The themes that emerged from the interviews included: the awareness of the importance of dietary advice among GDPs; the concerns GDPs had on patients' adherence to dietary advice; uncertainty over roles and responsibilities in the provision of dietary advice; and the limited time and remuneration for dietary advice in dental practice. A minor theme identified was the motivation of GDPs to implement dietary advice alongside oral rehabilitation. All reported that they were already providing dietary advice to their patients but that this was limited to caries prevention.
The GDPs interviewed expressed positive attitudes towards providing dietary advice alongside oral rehabilitation for older adults. However, a lack of confidence, awareness, time and remuneration are barriers to its provision in primary dental care. To facilitate the implementation of dietary advice alongside oral rehabilitation, clear guidance on and training in delivering dietary advice and multidisciplinary cooperation are required.
我们旨在了解普通牙科医生（GDPs）对于在为老年人进行缺牙修复治疗的同时提供饮食建议的看法，并确定相关解决方案，以为未来初级牙科保健中饮食干预措施的制定和实施提供参考依据。
随着天然牙的缺失，老年人可能需要选择更软、更易咀嚼的食物，而这些食物的营养密度可能较低。先前的研究表明，口腔修复可以改善咀嚼功能，但不能提高营养摄入，这凸显了口腔修复与饮食咨询相结合的潜在需求。
采用目的抽样策略，对12名普通牙科医生进行了半结构式电话访谈。访谈进行了数字录音，并逐字转录。采用主题分析方法进行迭代编码。
对英国的普通牙科医生进行了12次访谈。访谈中出现的主题包括：普通牙科医生对饮食建议重要性的认识；普通牙科医生对患者遵守饮食建议的担忧；提供饮食建议时角色和责任的不确定性；以及牙科实践中饮食建议的时间和报酬有限。一个次要主题是普通牙科医生在进行口腔修复的同时实施饮食建议的动机。所有受访者均表示他们已经在为患者提供饮食建议，但仅限于预防龋齿。
接受访谈的普通牙科医生对在为老年人进行口腔修复的同时提供饮食建议持积极态度。然而，缺乏信心、认识、时间和报酬是在初级牙科保健中提供此类建议的障碍。为了促进在口腔修复的同时实施饮食建议，需要提供关于饮食建议的明确指导和培训以及多学科合作。
