Oral health: something to worry about in individuals with acquired brain injury?

Is Oral Health All About Tooth Brushing? A Longitudinal Study in Individuals With Brain Injury in A Neurorehabilitation Setting

“…The mean age was 55.1 years (± 14.0), and 64% of the patients were male. More information about the sociodemographic data of the participants can be found elsewhere 3 .…”

“…Thus, the combined effect of plaque reduction and increased frequency of oral hygiene can explain this association. It should be noted that, although BOE is a simple and easy to use tool in hospital settings, especially in intensive care units, its usefulness is questioned in ABI patients and therefore, the BOE results may be carefully interpreted 2,3 . This is because the instrument seems not to re ect the real clinical conditions of patients with ABI, thus, affecting the treatment plan.…”

“…This is because the instrument seems not to re ect the real clinical conditions of patients with ABI, thus, affecting the treatment plan. Further, it has been shown that 'ageing' patients have more compromised function than young individuals, making them more vulnerable to dysphagia and unable to perform and maintain good oral hygiene procedures 3,5 .…”

“…The comprehensive oral health assessment tool used in the current study was previously developed, tested, and was thereafter modi ed by our group 2,3 . (For a detailed description, see Appendix 1 and Kothari et al 2,3 ).…”

“…Evidence suggests that stroke survivors with increased plaque and bacterial load experience a deterioration of the periodontal conditions 12,13 . Recently, a study showed that 40% of the ABI population had an abundant amount of dental plaque and increased bleeding on probing (BOP), a nding that may indicate an acute hospitalization effect 3 . In addition, 74% of the ABI individuals also had severe periodontitis, a condition, supported by their poor socio-behavioral and medical history, representing a chronic stage of an oral health disease 3 .…”