18 October 2022

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Retirement home residents: the influence of oral hygiene on general health

Lara Figini

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An increasing number of elderly people live in long-term care facilities, and an examination of their oral health reveals a bad situation in terms of dental, periodontal, cleaning of prostheses, health of the tongue and oral cavity. This reduced oral health is affected by multiple problems such as dementia, frailty, mental disorders, or malnutrition and multiple drug therapy. However, reduced oral health could affect the general state of health, and in particular it could affect the nutritional status, worsen cardiovascular diseases or cause aspiration pneumonia. Due to visual problems, reduced grip, sarcopenia, dementia, or financial problems, oral health care is unfortunately neglected by these elderly, without neglecting the limiting aspect represented by their caregivers who often highlight a lack of knowledge and lack of skills for address the various gold / dental problems, (control and cleaning of dentures, etc.), poor aptitude and low priority for oral health: the high turnover of personnel must also be considered. Interventions would be needed to improve this situation through the educational training of nurses and / or caregivers in hygiene and oral health and by increasing professional oral hygiene sessions in these hospital facilities. 

Materials and methods 

In a study published in Clinical and Experimental Dental Research in February 2022, the authors examined the influence of quarterly professional oral care interventions on the oral and general health of elderly residents in long-term care homes. 152 participants (mean age 84 years) from two residential homes for the elderly were examined. General health parameters, a questionnaire for their caregivers and oral health parameters were assessed at baseline and after 1 year. All caregivers were given an oral hygiene lesson at baseline. In a nursing home (B), professional oral hygiene was performed every 3 months. Statistical analyzes were performed by means of the Chi2 test for nominal data and by means of the t-test for numerical data. 

Results 

Thirty-nine people were lost to follow-up due to their deaths. No statistical differences were found between residents of houses A and B at baseline time and at 1-year reassessment for age, gender and body mass index BMI. No significant differences were found between the results obtained by the two different nursing homes regarding general health. Some oral parameters were positively influenced by the quarterly intervention such as pocket depth, prosthesis hygiene index and mucosal alterations. Edentulism and the DMFT (Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth) Index did not differ between the two nursing homes or over time. Pocket depth was assessed mesially and distally in 338 teeth in house A and 428 teeth in house B. Only the group of teeth with pocket depth> 4 mm showed significant reduction following quarterly professional oral care interventions at house B during the observation period. 

Conclusions 

From the study data, researchers concluded that quarterly occupational hygiene is unable to influence general health in elderly people residing in nursing homes and has slight positive effects on oral health. The authors said this underscores the necessity for frequent interventions. An optimization of the health policy framework is necessary to allow caregivers more time for oral hygiene and to establish the accessibility of frequent professional health care in residents' homes.

Peroz, Ingrid and Klein, Christoph. "Influence of professional dental hygiene on oral and general health of retirement home residents: A comparative study." Clin Exp Dent Res. 2022 Feb; 8(1): 45–53. doi: 10.1002/cre2.488