Objectives: This research has executed a new oral health promotion program among the elderly residents of a long-term care center, which purpose was to verify its effectiveness of oral health promotion through the improvement of their oral function. Methods: This study has selected the elderly over the age of 65, capable of communication, who use a long-term care center over the period of two months between July and September 2014. The subjects who remained until the final analysis numbered 50 excluding the dropouts during the program session (experimental: 33, control : 17). The oral stretching program was exercised two days a week, for total of two months. Each function was assessed by the standardized methods and measurement equipment. Also the sum of each function was converted into the oral health grade. Results: The oral function score of the experimental group also showed a statistically significant difference after the execution of the program, where the oral function score of experimental group increased 6.70±1.30 from 4.95±0.89 after the execution of the program (p<0.05), while the comparison group showed no valid statistical difference with the score result of 5.00±0.87 down from 5.11±0.93 after the execution of the program (p>0.05). Conclusions: Therefore if the oral health promotion program is reflected to the welfare policy in the future, it can be said that it contributes to the improved health status of the elderly who reside in the long-term care centers.
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