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Long‐term effect of an oral healthcare programme on oral hygiene in a nursing home
Author(s) -
Samson Heidi,
Berven Liv,
Strand Gunhild V.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of oral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.802
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1600-0722
pISSN - 0909-8836
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0722.2009.00673.x
Subject(s) - oral hygiene , medicine , oral health , long term care , nursing , hygiene , nursing homes , oral health care , health care , family medicine , dentistry , pathology , economics , economic growth
This article reports on the long‐term effect of an oral healthcare programme aimed at improving and maintaining the oral hygiene of elderly residents in a nursing home. The method was based on (i) motivation and oral‐care training of the nursing staff, (ii) production of picture‐based oral‐care procedure cards, (iii) distribution of adequate oral‐care equipment, (iv) practical implementation of new routines, and (v) assessment of results attained. The level of oral hygiene in the nursing home was assessed using the mucosal‐plaque score (MPS) index. Overall evaluation was made before the start of the study, after 3 months, and eventually after 6 yr. Before implementation of the oral healthcare programme, 36% of the residents had an acceptable score. Six years later, the proportion was 70%. The evaluation showed that the introduction of such an oral healthcare programme significantly improved the oral hygiene of the residents on a long‐term basis. However, 30% of the residents did not achieve an acceptable score because they were very ill or dying, aggressive or wanted to brush their teeth themselves.