Danish eCommerce store ‘Den Glade Mund,’ specializing in oral health products, discusses nursing education: Why is oral care neglected in nursing education?
Source: https://www.prlog.org/13018601-why-is-oral-care-neglected-in-nursing-education.html – COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Apr. 30, 2024 –
The care staff is officially trained to be able to take care of the citizen’s entire body. But that is not the case.
There is no coordinated teaching in oral care on either the SSH/SSA or nursing programmes. The meager and haphazard teaching some individuals receive is often carried out by non-dental care professionals. Which is equivalent to letting an occupational therapist teach wound care, which they are not trained for either.
Therefore, the care staff lack the necessary training and knowledge, and they also lack working procedures at their workplaces.
- They do not have a chance to know how to brush their teeth based on the individual needs of the citizen.
- They do not know what to look out for and how to check whether the brushing is good enough.
- They don’t know what to do if their gums bleed.
- And they also do not know that in the vast majority of cases they themselves can both prevent and treat diseases in the mouth.
Therefore, tooth brushing is often done haphazardly, and many problems and diseases in the mouth are overlooked.
It costs far too many lives.
Pneumonia and malnutrition caused by poor brushing claim many lives each year.
Up to 87% of nursing home residents suffer from dysphagia, according to data from the North Jutland Regional Hospital. This results in them inhaling plaque (old bacteria) from the mouth into the lungs. The more plaque present, the higher the risk of pneumonia, and a large portion of these individuals end up dying from it.
Studies from isikrehaender.dk also show that if nursing staff had the necessary knowledge, nursing home residents could have their teeth brushed better, potentially preventing 10% of hospital admissions for pneumonia.
“My experience from dental care in nursing homes is that many elderly people have poor oral hygiene, untreated infections, chronic pain, and generally poor dental status, which prevents them from consuming enough nutrition,” continues dental hygienist Liselotte Hinrich.
Ignorance creates uncertainty
Many nursing staff are apprehensive about oral care and perceive the mouth as the most intimate part of the body. Combined with a lack of knowledge, this is probably why tooth brushing is often neglected when things get busy.
75% of nursing home residents do not have their teeth brushed adequately, and yet many of them do not receive help with it, according to the same study from isikrehaender.dk.
Most nursing home residents, due to age or illness, are unable to brush their teeth adequately themselves. Those who do not want help with tooth brushing are not offered regular checks by the nursing staff to see if the resident is brushing adequately.
This means that one can spend the last years of life, when most sick and weak, without anyone offering to help with tooth brushing. Despite the poor oral hygiene where the gums bleed daily, there is a significant risk of pneumonia.
Visit https://via.ritzau.dk/pressemeddelelse/13695635/hvorfor-negligeres-mundplejen-pa-omsorgsuddannelserne to access the full article
Visit http://denglademund.dk/2023-06-14-pressemeddelelse for details