Characteristic symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome include abdominal pain, erratic bowel habits, and a variation in stool consistency wilh a passage of mucus. More nonspecific symptoms include bloating, gas dyspepsia, headache, fatigue, lassitude, and flatulence. Patients wilh irritable bowel syndrome are divided inlo two major groups, in the first, the spastic colon group, most patienis [...]
A motility disorder consisting of altered bowel habits, abdominal pain, and no detectable organic pathologic abnormalities. Irritable bowel syndrome accounts for 20% to 50% of all Gl complaints in private and institutional care facilities. Women outnumber men 2:1, and whites outnumber nonwhites. The preponderance of women wilh this diagnosis may reflect their greater tendency to [...]
A symptom complex, often related to eating, including intermittent epigastric pain, bloating, fullness, gaseousness. nausea, and heartburn. In the elderly, such complaints may indicate peptic ulcer disease but are often misdiagnosed and left untreated until more serious complications develop. The terms nonulcer dyspepsia, functional dyspepsia, flatulent dyspepsia, Moynihan’s symptom complex, and indigestion are all used [...]
The subjective sensation of a lump in the throat. No specific cause or physiologic mechanism has been identified for this condition, and little information about globus hystericus in the elderly exists. Some studies suggest that elevated pressure in the upper esophageal sphincter or abnormal hypopharyngeal motilily is present when symptoms occur. Other reports suggest an [...]
Typical angina-like pain is not always cardiac in origin, especially in the elderly. Noncardiac causes are mosl common in older women whose chest pain is unrelated to exertion. Long-term follow-up studies in > 2500 patients showed that myocardial infarctions (1.6%) and cardiac death (0.5%) were rare in this group. Nevertheless, these patients suffer real disability [...]
Disturbances of gut physiology arising us par! of an army of adaptive reactions, often to stress, nongastrointestina! illness, or thugs. Patients wilh such disturbances account for about 60% of all consultations forGI symptoms and about 2.4% of all hospital admissions. Functional GI disorders arc common in patients of all ages, but often the presenla-tion is [...]
Adequate salivary gland function is essential to all aspects of oral health. Saliva is necessary to form and translocate food boluses, to lubricate and maintain the integrity of the oral mucosa, and to prevent demineralization and promote remineralization of teeth. It contains at least six antimicrobial proteins that control bacterial colonization and limit fungal and [...]
Adequate taste and smell no! only ensure proper food selection but also protect against ingesting spoiled food. Anecdotally, gustatory function declines wilh age. although recent data suggest that changes in healthy older persons are modest and tend to affect a specific quality of taste (ic, too sweet, sour, salty, or bitter). Food enjoyment also requires [...]
The oral molor apparatus is involved in finely coordinated functions, including speaking, chewing, swallowing, and facial posture. In general, aging is associated with morphologic and biochemical alterations in neuromuscular systems. Several sludies of oral motor function in healthy adults demonstrate measurable changes in molor performance with age. Reduced masticatory muscle performance is common and appears [...]
Alveolar Bone Alveolar bone, an important component of the periodontium, provides support for the teeth and is clearly different from the underlying jawbone (mandible and maxilla). Although a general loss of bone mass occurs with age, resorption of alveolar bone is a resull of local factors rather than a part of the aging process. Once [...]
