a Development of patient-centric eating advice and intervention that consider the impact of wearing complete dentures on eating related quality of life

Abstract

Conventional complete dentures have adverse effects on social and emotional issues around eating or Eating Related Quality of Life (ERQoL). No study has documented the impact of denture replacement on changes in ERQoL. Similarly, there is little patient-centred research regarding eating with complete dentures. Therefore, the aims of this project are to determine the effect of optimising dentures on ERQoL, and to develop a prototype of a patient-centred eating advice or intervention for complete denture wearers. This project included four consecutive studies. The first study tested the psychometric properties of the Emotional and Social Issues Related to Eating (ESIRE) questionnaire against the denture satisfaction scale (McGill questionnaire). The second study used the ESIRE questionnaire to conduct a cohort study on edentulous patients requiring replacement dentures. The third study was a qualitative study exploring opinions of denture wearers, dentists and Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) about advice on eating with dentures. The fourth study adopted an iterative co-design process to develop a prototype of a patient-centred eating advice and intervention for complete denture wearers. Findings showed that the ESIRE questionnaire has adequate acceptability, high internal consistency reliability and a satisfactory preliminary construct validity. Following intervention with new conventional complete dentures, a highly statistically significant improvement in the total ESIRE scores was found. Equally, all domains of the ESIRE questionnaire showed significant improvements. However, the new dentures still had a negative impact on enjoyment of food/eating, social interaction, self-consciousness, interruption to meals and food choice highlighting the importance of developing dietary advice or intervention for denture wearers. Findings of the qualitative study showed that peer delivered advice might be useful in a leaflet format and linked website, where patients can share information. The iterative co-design process engaging both patients and dental professionals produced a patient-centred leaflet on overcoming eating problems with complete dentures, developed initial ideas for the future website or web-based intervention on eating with dentures, and identified several Core Concepts for future development.