Training For Dental Professionals: Nutrition And Disease In The Elderly

Abstract

The geriatric population is the most rapidly growing segment of the general population and will have dramatic implications for systemic and oral health in future. Poor hygiene in elderly led to the spread of infectious diseases that were responsible for most deaths. Nutritional deficiency states in old people may lead to diseases. So a good diet is not only necessary for development of the masticatory system, it also keep this system functioning properly. To help patients improve their diet without taking on the role of a dentists, a dietitian like all other health professionals, must posses basic nutritional knowledge and be familiar with the physiologic processes at play, as well as the effects of nutrition on the body. The educational programmes that are most comprehensive in this respect offer, in the first year, a basic nutrition course preceded or accompanied by courses in biochemistry and physiology. The dentist trained to assess their patients diet and counsel the in this regard, would be able to diagnose a patient's general state of health by examining the mouth and tissues, as well as the results of laboratory tests.