Objective: To assess the perceptions of caregivers towards oral healthcare services received by elders in Malaysian nursing homes and to identify challenges and suggestions for improvement. Background: Caregivers play an important role in the oral health care of elders in nursing homes. Methods: This study employed a qualitative approach using the nominal group technique (NGT) to obtain caregivers' feedback in nursing homes in Malaysia. Data were manually transcribed, summarised into keywords/key phrases, and ranked using weighted scores. Results: In total, 36 caregivers (21 from government and 15 from private nursing homes) participated in the NGT sessions. Overall, caregivers were satisfied with the low treatment cost, the quality of treatment, and the availability of dental visits to nursing homes. Caregivers were dissatisfied with the frequency of dental visits, long waiting times at government dental clinics, and inadequate denture hygiene education for elders in nursing homes. The challenges faced by caregivers were elders' poor oral health knowledge and attitude and lack of elders' trust of caregivers to look after their oral health. Suggestions for improvement were to increase the frequency of dental visits to nursing homes, provide oral health education to elders and caregivers, and give treatment priority to elders at dental clinics. Conclusion: Despite being satisfied with the basic oral healthcare services received by elders in Malaysian nursing homes, caregivers raised some issues that required further attention. Suggestions for improvement include policy changes in nursing home dental visits and treatment priority for elders at government dental clinics.

This cross-sectional national survey aimed to determine the prevalence of oral and hand hygiene practices as well as associations between sociodemographic characteristics and oral and hygiene practice among adolescents aged 13 to 17 years during the past 30 days. A validated self-administered bilingual questionnaire adapted from the Malaysian Global School Health Survey with computer-scanable answer sheets was distributed to 30 823 adolescents attending government secondary schools in Malaysia; and 89.2% responded to the questionnaire given. More than 80% (87.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 86.24-87.96) of the adolescents reported that they had brushed their teeth at least twice daily and had always washed their hands after using the toilet (86.6%; 95% CI = 85.85-87.36). The odds of adolescents who brushed their teeth at least 2 times daily and washed their hands after using the toilet was significantly associated with sociodemographic characteristics. This study highlights the need to further improve the effectiveness of current oral health promotion programs with consideration for sociodemographic characteristics.