An oral health survey of vulnerable older people in Belgium

Abstract

In the long term, the most important future challenge of oral health care policies is to identify older adults before they begin to manifest such oral health deterioration. Regular dental visits should be strongly promoted by all (oral) health care workers during the lifespan of all persons including older adults.

Elderly with remaining teeth report less frailty and better quality of life than edentulous elderly: a cross‐sectional study

“…The results suggest that oral status and (self‐reported) oral health point toward a positive impact of oral health on healthy aging as edentulous elderly when compared with elderly with remaining teeth reported more frailty, used more medicines, and had a lower QoL and worse ADL. These observations are comparable with those of Watanabe et al () who concluded that frail older individuals had significantly poorer oral function than prefrail and robust individuals and De Visschere et al () who stated that care dependency was influenced by oral health parameters. In line with this observation, elderly with implant‐supported overdentures performed better too.…”

Long‐term success of oral health intervention among care‐dependent institutionalized seniors: Findings from a controlled clinical trial

“…Although the compromised oral health of the institutionalized seniors is addressed in cross‐sectional research, little information is available on the effect of intervention to improve oral health. The purpose of such intervention is, usually, education of nursing home staff in oral health and implementation of recall programmes for the residents .…”

“…4 There are, furthermore, correlations between reduced oral health and such general medical issues as arteriosclerosis, 5 infection-related disorders 6 and pneumonia. 7 Although the compromised oral health of the institutionalized seniors is addressed in cross-sectional research, 2,8,9 little information is available on the effect of intervention to improve oral health. The purpose of such intervention is, usually, education of nursing home staff in oral health and implementation of recall programmes for the residents.…”

The oral health‐related section of the interRAI: Evaluation of test content validity by expert rating and assessment of potential reasons for inaccurate assessments based on focus group discussions with caregivers

“…Care‐dependent individuals often lack the cognitive and physical abilities to perform adequate oral hygiene and to access professional dental care . As a result, oral health of care‐dependent individuals is generally poor . Compromised oral health causes pain and discomfort, which in turn is related to low oral health‐related quality of life .…”

“…5,6 As a result, oral health of care-dependent individuals is generally poor. 7,8 Compromised oral health causes pain and discomfort, which in turn is related to low oral health-related quality of life. 9,10 It is also associated with a number of systemic diseases, [11][12][13] deteriorated physical [14][15][16] and cognitive performance, [17][18][19] depression, 20 institutionalisation, 21 and even mortality 22,23 in frail individuals.…”