Collaboration of dentistry and dietics to support the life of older people

Abstract

The oral function including the number of teeth remained is largely involved with dietary intake. It has been reported that a person tends to avoid chewy food such as vegetables but prefer food full of starches along with their teeth loss. To keep proper nutrient intake for the older people, it is necessary to administer nutrition based on the state of the oral function and dentures of each person, which highly requires cooperation between dentistry and dietetics. Recently, intervention studies have also been conducted combining nutrition guidance and improvement in the oral function or dental prosthesis.

There, the cooperation between dentistry and dietetics suggests the possibility of a synergy effect on health maintenance and healthy life expectancy extension for the elderly generation, which cannot be obtained if separately provided.

In the future, support for “maintain eating” will be required more, and cooperation between dentistry and dietetics will be indispensable.