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Importance of oral healthcare for hospitalised older adults
Oral healthcare of older patients is important in the hospital setting to reduce the risk of pain, malnutrition and pneumonia. This article looks at how oral health could be improved for older patients admitted to a geriatric ward.
Oral healthcare of older patients is important in the hospital setting to reduce the risk of pain, malnutrition and pneumonia. This article looks at how oral health could be improved for older patients admitted to a geriatric ward.
Poor oral healthcare can greatly affect an older person’s quality of life due to pain, limited activities of daily living as well as social isolation.1,2 It is also associated with an increased risk of malnutrition,1,3,4 hospital-acquired pneumonia and aspiration pneumonia.3,5-8 Malnutrition is attributed mainly to decreased salivation, oral candidiasis and periodontal inflammation. Pneumonia is hypothesised to be caused by increased colonisation of bacteria in the oral cavity. There is also weak evidence for poor oral health contributing to stroke, dementia, cardiovascular diseases and mortality.9-11 Hospitalisation can impact on a patient’s oral health. One systematic review shows deterioration of oral health
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