Oral healthcare of clients with learning disability: changes following relocation from hospital to community

Abstract

Objective To investigate changes in the oral healthcare of adults with learning disability after transference from long stay hospital care to community-based care. Subjects Adults with learning disability who were former residents of a single long stay hospital and who had been resettled into the community during the period April1995 to April 1998. Design Structured questionnaire with a covering letter sent to community-based carers. Hospital notes were reviewed to assess oral healthcare received as in-patients. Results There was a 68% response rate to the questionnaire from community-based carers with details obtained from 106 out of a possible 157 subjects. As residents in the hospital, all subjects were examined regularly by a dentist -yearly for edentulous and six-monthly for dentate individuals. However, attendance patterns were less regular as residents in the community. In the community, individuals were also less likely to receive operative dental treatment. Although oral hygiene regimes were generally on a daily basis only 37% of the subjects and/or their carers had received oral health education from dental professionals in the community. Conclusion Changes from institutional living to community-based housing for adults with learning disability may be associated with changes in dental attendance and treatment patterns.Despite having a similar caries experience as otherwise healthy adults, people with learning disabilities often have more untreated carious lesions, poorer oral hygiene and a higher number of missing to filled teeth than the general population. [1][2][3][4] People who also have a concomitant physical disability are more likely to have poorer oral hygiene than those without such disability. [5][6] Individuals with mild learning disabilities may have better oral hygiene and less periodontal disease in comparison with individuals whose

Compliance with Dysphagia Recommendations by Carers of Adults with Intellectual Impairment

“…Research suggests that often information and training improve staff compliance [11,12]. Center managers reported that staff undergo extensive training.…”

“…The questions required a yes/no response and then further comments were invited. The areas included in the questionnaire were based on the information suggested to be relevant by the literature [3,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]22].…”

Access to dental care among adults with physical and intellectual disabilities: residence factors

“…It is likely that some of the care recipients in community housing may have been past residents in an institution, and they and their carers are informed of the available dental services. However, Stanfield et al 13 revealed several problems in oral health care of people with mild learning disability after their resettlement into the community and reported that they were less likely to receive regular dental examinations and treatment.…”

Improving the oral health of residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities: An oral health strategy and pilot study

“…However, over the past several decades, efforts to deinstitutionalize these individuals and place them in smaller community residences, commonly referred to as group homes, have been successful. Although the overall quality of life may have been improved for this vulnerable population, their access to dental care and trained caregivers may have become more limited and their OH may have suffered (Stanfield, Scully, Davison, & Porter, 2003). Most individuals with IDD are insured by Medicaid, which many dentists do not accept.…”