Geriatric Nursing - Essay Example

Geriatric Nursing
The article is a study on the Incidence of Tooth Loss and Prosthodontic Dental Care. The study was done in Florida with eight hundred seventy-three persons as participants who had one tooth and were aged 45 and older at baseline. The study is done thru interviews and clinical examinations. The participants were asked about the onset of chewing difficulty, an important component of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). The result was approximately 22% of participants reported tooth loss during follow-up. The most common prosthodontic treatment was fixed prosthodontics (crowns and bridges). People who reported tooth loss were 2.7 times more likely to report chewing difficulty onset than people without tooth loss. The article concluded that the incident of tooth loss and removable prosthodontic restoration strongly predicted chewing difficulties, an important component of OHRQoL. 
The author of the article presented important facts supported by studies and articles. The study/research was supported by articles and books from where the idea was taken by the author. An example of it is when the author claims that “Tooth loss can have a substantial influence on the quality of life”. By referencing it properly what the author claims is very well supported. Another example is the part wherein he mentioned on the “agreement between self-reported and clinically examined tooth loss was high.” This was taken from Gilbert, et. al Comparison of two methods of estimating 48 months of tooth loss incidents. 
 
There are at least 18 references that are more than 10 years older. It still supports the document but there are some articles which may have a new or revised version. There are 5 references that are within the last 5 years. 
The implications of the article in the health care of geriatric patients are important.  Chewing problems may result in several clinical illnesses such as weight loss, dehydration, and debility. Proper nutrition is important, especially for geriatric patients. If a person has a chewing problem how can he able to eat the food if it is hard for the person to chew it? Dental health is related to health, it was stated in the article that chewing difficulty is the key component of Oral Health-Related Quality of Life. It is suggested that as long as people aged 45 and others maintained 20 well-distributed teeth from premolar to premolar, there was a sufficient adaptive mechanism to maintain adequate oral function.  Read More