[Effects of special mouth care with an aroma solution on oral status and oral cavity microorganism growth in elderly stroke patients].
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to examine the effect of oral care with an aroma solution on oral status and oral cavity microorganism growth in elderly patients with stroke.


METHODS
A non-equivalent control group, with a pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The participants were assigned to the experimental group (n=30) that received oral care with an aroma solution or the control group (n=31) that received 0.9% saline solution. To identify the effect of the experimental treatments, objective/subjective assessments of oral status and oral cavity microorganism growth were performed using the oral assessment guide, oral perception guide, and oral swab culture. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and t-test with the SPSS version 21.0 program.


RESULTS
The objective oral status was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (t= -3.64, p<.001). There was no significant difference between the subjective oral status of the experimental group and control groups (t= -1.24, p=.109). Oral microorganism growth was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (t= -7.39, p<.001).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that special mouth care using an aroma solution could be an effective oral health nursing intervention for elderly patients with stroke.
Division of Nursing Science, Ewha Womans University; Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Eun-Hye
EH
Lee
Division of Nursing Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. hyojungp@ewha.ac.kr.
Hyojung
H
Park
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019341:Aromatherapy; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology*
Aged; Aromatherapy; Dental care; Stroke