Interrelationship between dental health status and nutritional status among elderly subjects in India

BACKGROUND: Poor dental health status has been suggested to negatively impact the food selection, ultimately leading to malnutrition. OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to assess the association of dental health and nutritional status among elderly subjects in India. METHODOLOGY: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted during 2015–2016 in district Nainital, Uttarakhand state, India. A total of 1003 elderly population were enrolled from 30 clusters (villages) identified using population proportionate to size sampling methodology. Information on sociodemographic profile and anthropometric measurements was collected. Body mass index (BMI) and Mini Nutritional Assessment scale (MNA) were calculated for assessment of nutritional status. A trained professional assessed the dental health status through physical examination. Dietary intake data was collected using 24-h dietary recall methodology. RESULTS: We found that the prevalence of complete edentulism was 11%. Use of dentures was reported among only 9.6% subjects who were completely edentulous. Prevalence of underweight as defined by BMI and malnutrition as defined by MNA was higher among subjects with complete loss of teeth complete loss of teeth and chewing problems chewing problems and who did not wear dentures when compared with others. Subjects who wore dentures had significantly lower prevalence of malnutrition when compared with subjects who did not wear dentures. CONCLUSION: Dental health status was significantly associated with poor nutritional status among elderly subjects in India. There is a need for providing restorative dental healthcare services to elderly population to improve their nutritional status.