There is an ongoing and increasing interest in the significant and essential role that food plays in the health and survival of all people. As masticatory efficiency diminishes drastically in edentulous patients, many researchers in the past two decades have been studying how dietary intake varies when different types of oral rehabilitation are provided. Since the use of implants to support prostheses in edentulous mandibles has been shown to significantly improve masticatory performance, the question remains as to whether this improvement will influence nutritional status. In the present study, we used several nutritional markers to compare the nutritional status of edentulous patients who randomly received either mandibular conventional dentures or implant-supported overdentures one year previously. Although the conventional denture wearers reported having more difficulty chewing hard foods, no significant differences were detected in any of the nutritional markers. Therefore, even though chewing is more difficult for the patients wearing conventional dentures, it appears that the nutritional status of these two groups is similar.

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