Oral Health Care for Patients After Stroke

Oral health care (OHC) is a deceptively simple task. For many people with stroke-related limitations, the routine practice of OHC becomes a challenge and they become partially or totally reliant on others for their OHC. Poor oral health contributes to discomfort, pain, infection, and systematic health problems. Evidence-based OHC interventions are essential for this vulnerable patient group. Our recent Cochrane review update1 synthesized the randomized control trial evidence relating to the effectiveness of staff-led OHC interventions for individuals after a stroke. Search StrategyIn this update, we searched a range of sources, including the trial registers of the Cochrane Stroke Group (last searched April 2010) and Cochrane Oral Health Group (last searched May 2010), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; The Cochrane Library May 2010), MEDLINE (1966 to …