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Objectives: We evaluated the level of oral health status and oral health behavior in the elderly prior to their participation in a visiting oral health care intervention program as part of a community healthcare project in Cheonan city, South Korea. Methods: The oral hygiene conditions, oral health behaviors, and oral senility of 64 elderly people subject to community care were measured during the period January 1 to February 15, 2020 using dental health surveys and questionnaire-based interviews conducted in line with World Health Organization standard criteria. Results: The systematic disease retention rate of the elderly in this study was 90.6%, followed by hypertention (70.7%), and diabetes (51.7%). Scores were 1.69 out of 5 for subjective health evaluation, 1.8 out of 5 for subjective awareness of oral health, and the number of natural teeth was 14.9 per person (average mean for elderly people 18.38-19.34). During the day, 94.9% practiced brushing, after dinner 58.9%, and before bedtime 26.8%, which shows a diminished rate of practice. The percentage of participants dissatisfied with dental treatment was high at 67.2%, and the six measures of oral sensitivity, masticatory discomfort, pronunciation discomfort, and tongue pressure, presented less than average scores. Conclusions: The level of oral health and oral health behavior of the elderly prior to the visiting oral health care community intervention program, was very poor. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that there is a need to develop a more systematic and thorough strategy to activate visiting community oral health care intervention programs.

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This study investigated the effect of oral health education using a mobile app (OHEMA) on the oral health and swallowing-related quality of life (SWAL-QoL) of the elderly population in a community-based integrated care project (CICP). Forty elderly individuals in the CICP were randomized into intervention and control groups. OHEMA provided information on customized oral health care management, oral exercises, and intraoral and extraoral massage methods for 50 min/session, once a week, for 6 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed the unstimulated salivary flow rate, subjective oral dryness, tongue pressure, and SWAL-QoL, which were analyzed using ANCOVA and repeated measures ANOVA. In the intervention group, tongue pressure increased significantly from pre- (17.75) to post-intervention (27.24) (p < 0.001), and subjective oral dryness decreased from pre- (30.75) to post-intervention (18.50). The unstimulated salivary flow rate had a higher mean score in the intervention group (7.19) than in the control group (5.04) (p < 0.001). The SWAL-QoL significantly improved from pre- (152.10) to post-intervention (171.50) in the intervention group (p < 0.001) but did not change significantly in the control group (p > 0.05). OHEMA appears to be a useful tool for oral health education for the elderly as it improved the SWAL-QoL, with increased tongue pressure and reduced oral dryness.

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