Assessments of oral health care in dependent older persons in nursing facilities.
The number of dependent elderly with natural teeth is increasing dramatically. If these elderly persons do not receive proper oral health care, severe oral problems are likely to result. In conjunction with an oral health care education program for the staff of nursing facilities, oral health status was assessed and semi-structured interviews performed with residents and their relatives about oral health care. The assessments were made at baseline and at an 18-month follow-up. The project was conducted as a longitudinal, controlled study with an intervention and a control group. The aim of the study was to evaluate differences between the intervention and control group after oral health care intervention. At follow-up, it was shown that the intervention group had established more dental contacts. However, the results also indicated that the residents were not concerned about their oral health. Nursing staff therefore have to be responsible for oral health care if improved care for residents is to be realized.
Wårdh
Inger
I
Department of Oral Diagnosis, Faculty of Odontology, Göteborg University, Sweden. ingerwardh@swipnet.se
Berggren
Ulf
U
Andersson
Lars
L
Sörensen
Stefan
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016321:Dental Care for Aged; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D003778:Dentures; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006304:Health Status; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007576:Jaw, Edentulous, Partially / Q000145:classification; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013223:Statistics as Topic