What we see when we look at outcomes of dental care as nutrition

Abstract

When providing dental care such as denture making to outpatients, it resolved patients’ chief complaints and improved their quality of life. However, when we targeted dental care toward elderly patients requiring nursing care, we faced a significant barrier. The dental care outcome patients expected was ‘being able to chew,’ but in many cases, we could not achieve the results patients desired. This was because many elderly patients requiring nursing care presented with motor masticatory disorders. Therefore, by focusing on patients’ life functioning, we began developing dental care aimed at enabling them to enjoy delicious, sufficient meals. The outcome of dental care that emerged was ‘nutrition’. Consequently, the authors set out to explore intervention methods with nutrition as the outcome.