Food choices and eating difficulty among elderly edentate patients in Greece

To evaluate food choice and eating difficulty experienced by older Greek edentate patients.

Three samples of patients seeking provision of replacement dentures were studied. A primary study of urban mainland U1 (n=54) and island rural R1 samples (n=84) was followed by a mainland urban U2 sample (n= 19) in the Secondary study.

Greek dental clinics.

Semi-structured interviews (SSI) were employed, using both open and closed questions.

The primary study used SSI to identify eating difficulty experienced by two culturally different Greek groups. The secondary study established patterns of difficulty for comparisons between an urban Greek population and northern European urban studies.

The prevalence of eating difficulty, the degree of difficulty eating specified foods and the exclusion of foods because difficult.

Most patients expressed difficulty eating at least one type of food, a high percentage of these patients were willing to eat foods found difficult, while others use particular methods of food preparation that make food easier to eat. Chicken illustrated the importance of specifying the method of cooking when questioning eating difficulties. Roast meats provided insight into the more difficult end of the food range. Raw vegetables were rated difficult. Apples and oranges were also food of particular interest.

The semi-structured interview method provides a successful method to identify eating difficulty and food choices by older Greek complete denture wearers. Differences, probably largely cultural, were identified between Greek island rural and mainland urban communities. Greek food choices differed favourably from an English sample, strikingly in that Greek patients report continuing to eat difficult foods despite difficulty eating them. This may be relevant to health data on Greek populations that show better mortality statistics despite adverse factors such as high prevalence of smoking.