Pilot Study on the Influence of Nutritional Counselling and Implant Therapy on the Nutritional Status in Dentally Compromised Patients

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of implant-prosthetic rehabilitation combined with nutritional counseling on the nutritional status of patients with severely reduced dentitions. DESIGN: An explorative intervention study including an intra-individual comparison of 20 patients with severely reduced dentitions in terms of nutrition- and quality of life-related parameters recorded at baseline and at six and twelve months after implant-prosthetic rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty patients from the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry of Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, with an mean age of 63 years, who had fewer than ten pairs of antagonists. MEASUREMENTS: The baseline data collection included dental status, a chewing ability test, laboratory parameters, anthropometric data (body mass index), energy supply, a 3-day dietary record, an analysis of the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) with the OHIP-G14, the Mini-Mental Status (MMS) and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Six months after implantation and prosthetic rehabilitation, individual nutritional counseling was performed by a dietician. Data were again collected and analyzed. A final follow-up was conducted 12 months after prosthetic rehabilitation. RESULTS: Despite the highly significant improvement in masticatory ability and OHRQoL after implant-prosthetic rehabilitation, no significant changes were observed regarding MNA, anthropometric data or energy supply. Except for cholinesterase (p = 0.012), ferritin (p = 0.003), folic acid (p = 0.019) and vitamin A (p = 0.004), no laboratory parameter changed significantly during the investigation period. In addition, no general significant differences were observed for nutrient intake or food choice. CONCLUSION: The present study does not confirm the assumption that the implant-prosthetic rehabilitation of patients with severely reduced residual dentitions with or without an individual nutritional counseling influences nutritional status.