Objectives: The oral hygiene of nursing home residents is poor. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of professional brushing using a specialized brush every three weeks and its impact on geriatric outcomes.
Methods: Nursing home residents received professional brushing with a three-headed brush by a dental nurse every three weeks for three months. Controls comprised subjects from an earlier investigation. Their general clinical, geriatric and oral health (number of teeth, periodontitis, Gingivitis Index, Plaque Index, Root Caries Index, Volpe-Manhold Index [VMI]) were investigated, and Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) was obtained before and after three months.
Results: Forty nursing home residents were included. Seventy-six percent of participants suffered from periodontitis, while 48% had partial and 20% total dentures. After three months, VMI had decreased vs baseline (P < .001). An improvement in nutritional status (P = .012) was found in residents with dementia after the intervention, as well as an improvement in the GOHAI (P = .031) in all participants. Gingivitis and plaque indices did not improve.
Conclusions: The oral health of nursing home residents is poor for various reasons, and nursing home staff cannot fully address the increased oral hygiene risk with increasing multimorbidity. Professional brushing performed regularly by a dental nurse is an efficient method to improve oral hygiene in nursing home residents and may contribute to better nutritional status and quality of life. However, brushing every three weeks with a three-headed brush was not effective at improving gingivitis or plaque and was inferior to the two-week brushing interval with a manual toothbrush.
Keywords: Superbrush; geriatric assessment; geriatric prevention; nursing home; professional brushing.
© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Dental Hygiene published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.