Logo image
Dental-related function and oral health in relation to eating performance in assisted living residents with and without cognitive impairment
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Dental-related function and oral health in relation to eating performance in assisted living residents with and without cognitive impairment

Wen Liu, Clarissa Shaw and Xi Chen
Special care in dentistry, Vol.39(5), pp.497-504
09/01/2019
DOI: 10.1111/scd.12405
PMCID: PMC6718338
PMID: 31287185
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6718338View
Open Access

Abstract

Aims Despite the physiologic relationship, there is a lack of evidence on how dental-related function and oral health impact eating performance. This study aims to examine the association of eating performance with dental-related function and oral health among assisted living residents. Methods and Results This study was a secondary analysis of observational data collected from an instrument development study. Participants included 90 residents with normal to severely impaired cognition from three assisted livings. Multilevel mixed-effects ordered logistic models were used. The dependent variable was eating performance measured by the single "eating" item (scored from 0 to 4 on level of dependence). Independent variables were resident age, gender, dental-related function, and oral health. The resident and facility clustering effects accounted for 88% of variance in eating performance, among which 84% was explained by dental-related function and oral health. Eating performance was associated with dental-related function (coefficient = -0.10, 95% CI = -0.19, -0.01, P = .025), and was not associated with other characteristics. Conclusion Eating performance is influenced by the complex relationship with dental-related function and oral health. Novel interventions using interdisciplinary partnerships are needed to maintain dental-related function and oral health to optimize eating performance.
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology

Details

Metrics

Logo image