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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Oral health of elderly occupants in residential homes | | Author(s) | D Simons, E A M Kidd, D Beighton |
| Journal title | The Lancet, vol 353, no 9166, 22 May 1999 |
| Pages | p 1761 |
| Keywords | Dental problems ; Dental services ; Residents [care homes] ; Care homes ; Nursing homes ; Evaluation ; Hertfordshire. |
| Annotation | It has been reported that institutionalised older people have poorer oral health than those who live independently at home. The authors offered to assess the oral health of older people in a random sample of 55 of the 110 residential and nursing homes in West Hertfordshire: 48 homes accepted. The sample consisted of 249 men and 792 women (mean age 83.9) who had spent 24.9 months in the residential homes. 598 were edentulous, 203 had only teeth, and 240 had teeth and dentures. Results were consistent with findings in other institutionalised populations. Plaque and gingival indices were high, and this poor oral hygiene was related to presence of root caries. In addition to poor denture hygiene, and problems with ulcers and other lesions, the questionnaire showed that 250 residents had difficulty eating, 206 had problems with taste, and 261 found mouth care difficult. Although 343 preferred help with cleaning teeth and dentures, only 94 reported that staff had helped them. Management of the homes indicated that there was no systematic approach to arranging dental care. Thus, the poor oral status of institutionalised older people, found in this and previous studies, may contribute to eating and nutrition problems. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990528001 A |
| Classmark | BLA: L8: KX: KW: LHB: 4C: 8HT * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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