Dietary intake in edentulous subjects with good and poor quality complete dentures

Previous studies in complete denture wearers evaluated the relationship between diet and measures of chewing, yet only isolated nutrient intake was considered. This limited information makes the assessment of overall diet quality and the planning of interventions difficult.

This study investigated the relationship of complete denture quality to masticatory performance, perceived ability to chew, and diet quality as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), an overall diet quality index.

The study population comprised 54 complete denture wearers. Data were obtained from clinical examinations, masticatory performance measurements, and 2 non-consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls. (Masticatory performance data were not collected for 9 subjects because of time constraints, patient fatigue, or patient refusal. Statistical analysis showed no significant effect of their absence on the reported findings.) Based on a composite rating scale, subjects were divided into 3 denture quality groups described as good, medium, and poor. The outcome variables were the HEI and its components, plus selected nutrient and non-nutrient intake. Explanatory variables were quality of complete dentures, masticatory performance, and reported chewing ability. Data were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis tests, Mann-Whitney U-tests, and Fisher exact tests. Because a large number of dietary components were examined, results were considered significant at alpha=.01.

Masticatory performance and perceived ability to chew were unrelated to diet quality. The good quality denture group had significantly better masticatory performance than the medium and poor quality groups, but the median HEI scores and dietary intakes were not significantly different among these 3 groups. Milk, vegetable, fruit, and grain intake scores were mainly responsible for the low overall HEI scores.

In the population evaluated, complete denture quality, food comminution capacity, and perceived chewing ability were not related to diet quality. The majority of subjects had deficient diets regardless of the technical quality of their dentures.