Objectives: To critically analyse and discuss oral hygiene protocols in the hospital environment in patients admitted to the ICU, through a systematic review of the literature.
Methods: The electronic search was performed on Pubmed, Cochrane, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. The indexing keywords according to the PRISMA protocol were: 'hospital dentistry', 'oral health', 'oral care' and 'intensive care unit'.
Results: The initial search resulted in a total of 2671 articles. Pre-selection based on titles led to the exclusion of 2510 articles and the remaining 36 were selected for abstract reading. After analysing the eligibility of the articles, eight studies were included in the review and submitted to qualitative analysis.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that cleaning with a soft bristle brush, use of chlorhexidine and lip moisturizing are methods commonly used in dental care actions in patients hospitalized in intensive care units.
Keywords: hospital dentistry; intensive care unit; oral care; oral health.
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