Sjgren, P., Kullberg, E., Hoogstraate, J., Johansson, O., Herbst, B.

, & Forsell,

M. (2010). Evaluation of dental hygiene education for nursing home

staff. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 66(2), 345-349.

Nursing home staff are a very skilled professionals. They must be able

to treat the patients entirely. In older people, poor oral hygiene and poor

dental status usually result in a lesser quality of life. Since oral health is an

important factor in general health, the staff of the nursing homes are given

dental hygiene education and instructions on how to take care of their

patients individually.

A research was done on nursing home staffs understanding and ability

to perform adequate oral health care. Seeing the importance of oral health, a

more extensive educational approach was made for the staff. The thought

was that the professionals would decline in their ability to uphold the oral

health standards over time. Three steps were measured and scored to

compare results of the patients shortly after the education was given, and

then again 1.5 years after the class. The first step was to instruct the main

caregiver for each patient specific needs to uphold the patients oral health.

Second step was hands on training and lectures on measures needed from

the nursing staff. Finally, the third step was a group discussion among the

staff about oral hygiene care and their perceptions, attitudes and cognitive

behavior towards it. The point was to eliminate any negative or wrongful

feelings towards oral hygiene tasks. In order for the patient to be considered

for the study, they needed to have their lower right central and lateral
incisors and canine tooth in the initial exam after the education was given to

the staff. 60 patients started the study with the requirements compared to

41 patients who fulfilled the requirements 1.5 years later. There were fewer

patients but that could have been due to many different reasons. Overall, the

plaque scores did not change on the 41 patients in the time.

I agree with how important oral health is to nursing home patients as

this article states. Nursing home staff must not forget about proper

precautions to take in order for the patients to be happy and healthy. The

study says in the last 1.5 years the plaque score did not change and I think

that is great but I dont think it is too accurate. First of all the staff knew they

were being studied. Of course they are going to try to up hold the standards

better if they know someone will be back to test their knowledge and or

ability. Second, the education given to the staff was much more extensive

than normal. They were given more information and more time to

understand the real importance. I believe this kind of education should be

given to every nursing home staff member among hiring along with a

refresher course after every 4 years or so. The staff proved they can uphold

the information adequately for 1.5 years, presuming 2 years would be safe,

so every 4 years would be a good reminder. The elderly have plenty of health

concerns to worry about, healthy gums are far too simple to maintain to have

to worry about. They stress and frustration of not being able to have that hip

replacement surgery because of periodontal disease and or some kind of

infection is unnecessary and completely avoidable.