A preliminary investigation into the use of denture adhesives combined with dietary advice to improve diets in complete denture wearers

Objectives

To investigate how nutritional advice and denture adhesives may be associated with eating healthier foods.

Methods

35 edentulous subjects (13 males and 22 females, mean age 73.9 years (55–84 years)), wearing complete dentures more than one year old, completed validated questionnaires analysing saturated fat, protein, Vitamin C, the number of servings of fruit/vegetables. In addition subjects completed the NDNS and OHIP Edent questionnaires. At baseline, nutritional information and the use of denture adhesive was provided. Subjects returned after 30 consecutive days and the questionnaires were repeated. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to test the effect of the denture adhesive on diet and on quality of life measures.

Results

The subjects increased mean intake from 2.2 portions of fruit/vegetables a day to 3.6. Fat and saturated fats were reduced from 23.2 g to 11.3 g and Vitamin C intake increased by 34.4 mg. All were statistically significant (p < 0.0001). There was a statistically significant improvement over the 30-day treatment period in subjects’ ability as measured by using OHIP Edent scores to bite (p = 0.017) and chew a range of foods (p = 0.007).

Conclusion

Within the confines of the study, use of simple dietary advice and denture adhesives improved diet.

Clinical significance

The results of this pilot study suggest that denture fixatives may improve dietary behaviour of complete denture wearers.