Background: Patients scheduled for bariatric surgery (BS) are encouraged to chew slowly in order to optimise the digestion\r\nprocess. The influence of dental status on patientsââ?¬â?¢ ability to comply with advice on chewing behaviour is poorly\r\ndocumented. This study aims to compare modifications of chewing function before and after BS in three groups of obese\r\npatients differing in dental status.\r\nMethod and Findings: A cohort of 46 obese women provided three groups: FD group: fully dentate (7ââ?¬â??10 functional dental\r\nunits [FU]); PD group: partially dentate (4ââ?¬â??6 FU) without partial dentures; DW group: partial and complete denture wearers.\r\nChewing time (CT), number of chewing cycles (CC), and chewing frequency (CF) were measured before and after surgery\r\nduring mastication of standardised samples of raw carrot, peanuts, banana, apple and jelly. The median particle-size\r\ndistribution (D50) of the pre-swallowed bolus was also evaluated for peanut and carrot. Before surgery, the PD and DW\r\ngroups exhibited greater mean CCs and CTs than the FD group (SNK p,0.05) and produced a bolus with higher\r\ngranulometry (SNK, p,0.05) than the FD group. After surgery, CT and CC increased for all groups and for all foods, but not\r\nstatistically significant for jelly. The resulting changes in bolus granulometry observed depended on both food and dental\r\nstatus. The granulometry of carrot bolus remained as fine or as coarse in FD and DW groups respectively as it was before\r\nsurgery while it was significantly decreased in the PD group (Studentââ?¬â?¢s test, p,0.001).\r\nConclusions: After bariatric surgery, all the obese patients, regardless of dental status modified their chewing kinematics.\r\nThe effects of this chewing behaviour on bolus granulometry depended on dental status and type of food. Further studies\r\nare needed to understand better the impact of dental status on feeding behaviour and nutrition in patients with obesity.
Loading....