| Elderly people who live in
nursing homes are at greater risk for oral health problems
compared to elderly people who live independently.
As people age, medical complications and other
factors can negatively affect oral health. Evidence shows that
older Americans are at risk for greater oral health problems
than other groups because of age and the inability to get to a
dentists office due to an existing medical condition or lack of
transportation.
"Oral health of frail elders residing in
long-term care facilities is very poor. Most of the care
at nursing homes is medical care and nursing care, and sometimes
the oral health needs are overlooked.
Children or relatives should take an active
role in the oral health needs of elderly people residing in
nursing homes:
 | Assisting with:
 | brushing |
| flossing |
| looking around the mouth for
canker sores and abscesses |
|
| All oral health problems, should be
reported to the nursing staff for proper diagnosis and
treatment. |
Important questions to
ask nursing home administrators:
Before choosing a nursing home for an elderly person, relatives
and loved ones should inquire about the quality and consistency
of dental care at the facility:
| Does the home have on-call dentists?
| Is nursing home staff trained in basic
mouth care?
| Is the nursing home staff trained to
recognize oral pathology?
| Does nursing home staff emphasize mouth
care at least once a day? |
| | |
If the staff or home administrator can't say
'yes' to each of these questions, then these areas need to be
addressed before admitting your loved one into the care
facility.
Up
To Top Updates
Dental Plaque And Respiratory Infection in
Elderly
Dental plaque may often be home to respiratory pathogens
responsible for hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP),
according to a study by researchers as the University of Buffalo
in NY. Of 49 critically ill nursing home residents who required
intensive care treatment, 28 or 57% had aerobic pathogens in
their dental plaque, including Staphylococcus aureus, and
enteric Gram-negative bacilli, pathogens commonly found in
elderly patients with severe pneumonia, and 14 or 29% developed
HAP. According to a report in Novemberís CHEST (Journal of the
American College of Chest Physicians), institutionalized elders
comprise a population that has dental plaque
due to lack of oral hygiene, among other factors. Up
To Top Plaque Can Cause Aspiration Pneumonia
In research on a group of 95 elderly persons
from nursing homes who were hospitalised for severe aspiration
pneumonia, investigators concluded that the bacteriology
associated with their disease could have sprung from
micro-organisms that had been colonized in either their dental
plaque or oropharyngeal cavity at the time of aspiration.
Many older institutionalized patients have deterioration in
their activities of daily living, It is quite plausible that
poor oral health, because of the difficulty of accessing
professional dental care and insufficient or poor oral hygiene,
leads to an environment that promotes colonization of dental
plaques by anaerobic and Gram-negative organisms.
June 2003 of the American Thoracic
Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine, Ali El-Solh, M.D., M.P.H., of the
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine,
University of Buffalo School of Medicine, Buffalo, New York
Up
To Top |
Resource: July/August 2002 issue (Volume 50, Number 4)
of General Dentistry.
Aspiration Pneumonia Linked to Poor Dental Health
Medinews.com
Following research on 95 elderly patients from a
nursing home who were hospitalized for aspiration pneumonia, investigators
concluded that the bacteriology associated with their disease could have
come from microorganisms colonized in either their dental plaque or
oropharyngeal cavity at the time of aspiration. Aspiration pneumonia
consists of inflammation of the lung and bronchi caused by inhaling or
choking on vomit. They concluded that poor dental health in
nursing home patients due to lack of professional dental care and poor
oral hygiene could easily have led to an environment that promoted the
colonization of dental plaque by anaerobic and Gram-negative organisms.
Of the 67 pathogens identified, Gram-negative enteric bacilli comprised
49%, anaerobic bacteria comprised 16%, and Staphylococcus aureus
comprised 12%. The crude mortality rate among the patients studied was
33% for the anaerobic group. The study, conducted by researchers at the
University of Buffalo School of Medicine (NY, USA), was published in the
June 15, 2003, issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine. The authors noted that neither nursing home staff nor
physicians appeared to give high priority to the oral care of residents.
09/03 |
