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Poorly Fitting Dentures Barriers

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As nurses we want to teach our patients to maintain a healthy diet. We also want to teach our patient about appropriate diets associated to their medical conditions. Unfortunately, many patients do not always eat healthy meals, or meals associated to their conditions. It is important to assess patients who are not receiving the appropriate nutritional intake. These patients may be lacking the appropriate nutrition due to certain barriers. One barrier with patients may be poor dentition, dental decay, or poorly fitting dentures (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Patients may suffer from dental issues that may prevent them from effectively chewing food to consume the appropriate nutrition necessary (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Problems such as poorly fitting dentures can prevent patients from eating like they should. If dentures are too loose food partials may collect under dentures and cause pain to the patient (Ignatavicius & …show more content…

This could be that the patient does not have the financial stability to buy food for themselves. The nurse should assess the patient and educate the patient on certain resources available to them (Touhy & Jett, 2012). Many resources that may help the patient could be programs such as food stamps or Meals on Wheels. Another barrier to prevent patients from the nutrition they require is cognitive disorders. Many patients with cognitive disabilities suffer from malnutrition simply because they forget to eat or they also be confused and think they have already ate (Touhy & Jett, 2012). It may also be that patients do not realize they have food available to eat. Nurses, especially in long term care facilities should have snack foods available for patients to eat (Touhy & Jett, 2012). Another intervention for patients is to supplement their diet with drinks such Ensure (Touhy & Jett,

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