Chewing Difficulty and Diet Quality among Edentulous Elderly: Descriptive Correlation Study

Background: Edentulism is a public oral issue which negatively impacts chewing and diet quality among elderly. Aim: assess chewing ability and diet quality among elderly. Research design: descriptive research design was used. Setting: This research conducted at outpatients' clinics of Prosthetic Dentistry Department at Faculty of Dentistry South Valley University. Sample: A study sample includes 250 edentulous elderly. Tools: three tools have been used: Tool (I) socio-demographic characteristics. Tool (II): Chewing Function Questionnaire. Tool (III): Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I). Results: The age of elderly participants mean± SD was 67.30 ± 2.34, wearing denture improve chewing ability especially elderly with partial tooth loss wearing partial denture and a significant strong negative correlation was found between the chewing problems and diet quality (r = -0.670, p = 0.001). Conclusion: Increase chewing difficulties among non-denture wearers edentulous elderly which significantly impact diet quality. Recommendations: The current study recommended designing of health education program for elderly about use denture well and improve diet quality.