At-home oral care for adults with developmental disabilities

Abstract

Background Little is known about effective at-home oral care methods for people with developmental disabilities (DDs) who are unable to perform personal preventive practices themselves and rely on caregivers for assistance. Methods A convenience sample of 808 caregivers (84.5 percent paid, 15.5 percent family members) who accompanied adults with DDs (20 years or older) to appointments at a specialized statewide dental care system completed computer-assisted personal interview surveys. The authors used these data to investigate caregivers’ at-home oral care experiences and to explore differences between caregivers who were paid and those who were family members. Results Caregivers reported that a high proportion (85 percent) of dentate adults with DDs received assistance with tooth cleaning. They also reported a high prevalence of dental problems, and low adherence to brushing (79 percent) and flossing (22 percent) recommendations. More caregivers reported that they felt confident assisting with brushing than with flossing (85 percent versus 54 percent). Family members and paid caregivers differed with respect to confidence and training. Conclusions At-home oral care, particularly flossing, presents substantial challenges for adults with DDs. Solutions must be tailored to address the different experiences and distinct needs of the family members and paid caregivers who assist these adults. Practical Implications Caregivers play an important role in providing at-home oral care, and they must be included in efforts to improve oral health outcomes for people with DDs.

Oral hygiene and oral status of institutionalized children with motor and intellectual disabilities

“…Dental caries is considered a common problem in children with neurological impairments [31], and some studies reported that the prevalence of dental caries in children with CP was similar to or lower than that in children in the general population [22,32]. The low caries rate in children with CP can be partly attributed to effective oral hygiene strategies for children with disabilities, including those with neurological impairments [33,34], although prevention of dental caries in patients with neurological impairments is still a major problem in some developing countries [35]. Patients with feeding tubes have been described as being at low risk for dental caries even with limited oral hygiene practice because they do not take food orally [36].…”

Revisiting the status of oral health services in adult PM&R programs: a 40‐year follow‐up survey

“…Even with the clear need for future research into these issues, actions can be implemented now based upon the findings from these two questionnaire surveys and the large number of oral health status surveys of disabled individuals in the United States . Given the access difficulties to oral health care that many PM&R in‐patients face upon discharge from their PM&R hospitalization, the quality of their lives can be improved if during their multimonth PM&R hospitalization their own backlog of needed dental care can be attended to during their PM&R hospitalization as a fully integrated PM&R service along with the existing array of PM&R services provided for them.…”

“…The dual purposes of this project were: (1) to discern the current expert medical opinion and practices in 2014 regarding the provision of oral health services available to the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) patients, during their stay in PM&R units of hospitals, and as well as after their discharge; and, (2) to compare these current findings with the findings from a survey conducted 40 years prior in 1974 using the same survey questionnaire. While there is an identifiable literature on the oral health status of handicapped and/or disabled adults living either in institutions or at‐large in the community in the United States, all articles report that the oral health status for these adults ranges from bad to horrid, with a notable lack of access to dental care. As based upon a current full‐literature search by a university‐based biomedical librarian, only a single published article exists on the specific topic of oral health services in PM&R programs and that was the article that presented the findings from our group's 1974 survey .…”

Hábitos comportamentais em crianças e adolescentes com Paralisia Cerebral da cidade de Campina Grande, Paraíba

“…Paralisia Cerebral, Campina Grande, 2014. resultado similar encontrado na literatura 15 . Isso se deve à presença de movimentos involuntários, reflexos orais patológicos, deglutição de dentifrício, reflexo de mordida, espasticidade dos músculos da mastigação, medo, falta de cooperação e limitação de abertura bucal 16 .…”