Geriatric patients may experience severe nutritional deficiencies as a result of denture-wearing, researches now prove
The research team extracted dental and health records of 10,000 plus patients to determine how the overall health of geriatric patients reflects upon their oral health over a significant period of time.
These health records were extracted from the laboratory data present in hospitals in Indiana. These reports included complete blood count, basic metabolic profile and lipid and thyroid panel tests.
It was observed that in patients with dentures, several nutritional biomarkers that were observed were missing. People that were not wearing dentures, they did not experience this decline. The nutritional markers were in line with the normal nutritional values.
The reason for this, patients claimed, was due to the low chewing capacity in dentures. Further research into the dental insurance status of patients shall reveal other socio-economic factors that could contribute to nutritional deficiencies.
