Provision of mouth-care in long-term care facilities: an educational trial.
OBJECTIVE
This randomized clinical trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of a pyramid-based education for improving the oral health of elders in long-term care (LTC) facilities.


METHODS
Fourteen facilities matched for size were assigned randomly to an active or control group. At baseline in each facility, care-aides in the active group participated with a full-time nurse educator in a seminar about oral health care, and had unlimited access to the educator for oral health-related advice throughout the 3-month trial. Care-aides in the control group participated in a similar seminar with a dental hygienist but they received no additional advice. The residents in the facilities at baseline and after 3 months were examined clinically to measure their oral hygiene, gingival health, masticatory potential, Body Mass Index and Malnutrition Indicator Score, and asked to report on chewing difficulties.


RESULTS
Clinical measures after 3 months were not significantly different from baseline in either group, indicating that education neither influenced the oral health nor the dental hygiene of the residents.


CONCLUSIONS
A pyramid-based educational scheme with nurses and care-aides did not improve the oral health of frail elders in this urban sample of LTC facilities.
MacEntee
M I
MI
Division of Prosthodontics and Dental Geriatrics, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. macentee@interchange.ubc.ca
Wyatt
C C L
CC
Beattie
B L
BL
Paterson
B
B
Levy-Milne
R
R
McCandless
L
L
Kazanjian
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015992:Body Mass Index; D017028:Caregivers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003376:Counseling; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000145:classification; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D009726:Nurses; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010512:Periodontal Index; D014504:Urban Health; D000078329:Workforce