STOMATOLOGY EDU JOURNAL

GERODONTOLOGY

Mechanisms linking oral health and frailty in older adults: a narrative review

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25241/stomaeduj.2021.8(3).art.6

Abstract

Background Frailty is a geriatric syndrome in which multiple systems lose their physiological reserves resulting in increased vulnerability to stressors and risk of adverse health-related outcomes. There is an increasing number of studies discussing the association of oral health with frailty through several pathways.
Objective The aim of this review was to describe the possible mechanisms linking oral health and frailty.
Data Sources A narrative review was performed with literature search in PubMed, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect electronic databases. Reference lists from relevant studies and cited papers were also investigated.
Study Selection The review included full papers of any study design, published in peer-reviewed journals in English until July 2021.
Data Extraction Current literature indicates four possible mechanisms linking oral health and frailty.
Data Synthesis The first mechanism refers to the nutritional pathway. It is reported that poor oral health negatively affects protein and vitamins intake. Malnutrition and decreased energy intake have a dominant role in frailty onset. Inflammation is another mechanism. Periodontal disease causes a systemic increase of pro-inflammatory biomarkers which in turn may lead to muscle strength deterioration. Furthermore, oral health can be related to frailty through neural mechanisms. Specifically, occlusion and proprioception from the periodontal ligament contribute to the control of body balance. Finally, the mechanisms include the psychological pathway, since poor oral health may lead to social isolation and depression which increase the risk of negative general health outcomes. More studies are necessary to clarify the previous associations and reveal any causative effects.

Keywords
Oral Health; Frailty; Malnutrition; Inflammation; Depression.

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The Stomatology Edu Journal (Stoma Edu J) is one of the first Green Open Access journals in the field of dental medicine, publishing well-established authors, but equally committed to encouraging early career researchers and professionals alike to publish their work after a non-partisan, objective, double-blind rigorous peer-reviewed process. The Stomatology Edu Journal (Stoma Edu J) is a Green Open Access journal accessible for free on the Internet, hence no processing, peer review fees or article publishing charges payable by the author are required. A Green Open Access (GOA) journal means that all content is freely available to the user or his/her institution without charge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Our aim is to publish in the shortest possible time frame and ensure the rapid dissemination of your work via our journal page, but also through our indexing partners…(read more)

STATEMENT

STOMATOLOGY EDU JOURNAL (Stoma Edu J) is a new international dental journal whose main purpose is to inform researchers, educators, graduates, postgraduates and practitioners about the latest trends in the field, which followed, would bring immediate and lasting benefits to the patients; and about opinions of the most authorized specialists on what is best in current practice, for the good of both, patient and dentist.
STOMATOLOGY EDU JOURNAL (Stoma Edu J) is a peer-reviewed, open access international dental journal to be database indexed, meant to contribute to the development and completion of the medical training of practitioners as Dr. Greene Vardiman Black stated: “the professional man has no right to be other than a continual student”.
Open access journal, means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.