Sammanfattning
Introduction - It is generally well known and described in several
studies that poor oral hygiene is frequent among nursing
home residents. Poor oral hygiene may lead to severe oral
diseases and may be a contributing factor in threats to the
general health. Hence, it is urgent to develop, implement and
evaluate oral hygiene programs aimed at nursing home residents.
Materials and methods - The program comprised 549 residents
living in five different nursing homes. Five dental assistants paid
regular visits to the nursing homes in a nine month period delivering
training to the nursing personnel based on the principles of
situated learning. Hence the skills and knowledge of the nursing
personnel were improved through the sharing of responsibility of
this task with a dental assistant. Oral hygiene, gingival bleeding
and denture hygiene were measured at baseline, and after three,
six, and nine month of intervention.
Results - After nine months of intervention remarkable improvements
were observed with respect to oral hygiene as well as to
denture hygiene and gingival bleeding.
Conclusion - Even with a relatively modest effort it is possible
to make a significant improvement in the oral hygiene of nursing
home residents.