title: Testing toothbrushing ability of elderly patients.
abstract: An individual's ability to perform adequate oral care may become jeopardized by medical and physical insults associated with the aging process. Declines in oral care abilities may be difficult to identify, and usually go unnoticed and unaddressed. This study examined a tool developed to assess toothbrushing ability in elderly patients. The Toothbrushing Ability Test (TAT) was examined for its ability to predict brushing effectiveness (measured by plaque levels) and to determine its interrater and intrarater reliability. Fifty-eight dentate subjects, age 65 and older, from the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a community nursing home participated. Results showed highly significant Spearman correlations between TAT scores and plaque levels (r = 0.719; p < 0.000). Correlations also revealed high interrater (r = 0.87) and intrarater reliability (r = 0.82). The results suggest that the TAT is a practical and effective screening tool for assessing oral self-care ability in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Dental Services, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, Oregon 97207, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Felder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reveal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lemon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016321:Dental Care for Aged; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D015588:Observer Variation; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012648:Self Care; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014099:Toothbrushing