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Incorporating the Nutrition Screening Initiative into the dental practice
Author(s) -
Saunders Michèle J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-4505.1995.tb00468.x
Subject(s) - medicine , checklist , oral health , psychological intervention , quality of life (healthcare) , gerontology , environmental health , family medicine , nursing , psychology , cognitive psychology
Older patients' nutritional status must be assessed for their morbidity and mortality to be decreased and their quality of life Improved. Food and fluid Intake is markedly Influenced by oral health status. In turn, oral health has an Interrelationship with general health. Because nutritional status and oral health exist in a symbiotic relationship, it is essential that the dental team Identify older patients who are nutritionally at risk. Screening for nutritional problems in elderly dental patients is made easier with screening Instruments developed by the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI). The NSI developed criteria to determine risk factors for poor nutritional status in older Americans. The DETERMINE Your Nutritional Health checklist, a 10‐Item screening Instrument, followed by the Levels I and II Nutrition Screens, can be used in the dental office to ascertain which elderly patients are most likely to be in danger of experiencing nutritional problems. The dental team can then perform Interventions and/or make appropriate referrals.