No abstract

Nurses' aides provide the majority of direct care for nursing facility residents. This study investigated aides' self-reported oral care activities and personal, job, organizational, and resident factors associated with oral care. A 30-item questionnaire was completed by 488 aides, and interviews were conducted with 65 of these aides. Aides were performing oral care activities for residents. Associations between some of the four groups of factors proposed and aides' oral care provision were found. Aides' attitudes toward oral care, lack of time and staff to complete oral care, and behavioral and physical difficulties with residents may have affected the time spent by these aides in providing oral care. The study highlighted the need for further investigation and assessment of (1) aides' CNA training courses and (2) continuing oral health educational interventions in nursing facilities. Personal interview were found to be a useful qualitative instrument for conducting dental research in nursing facilities. Further investigation is needed of interviews and other methodologies, such as observation, to supplement self-report as a measure of aides' oral care activities.

This study of 230 hospital geriatric clinic patients compared the oral health of individuals with dementias with that of persons with no dementing illnesses. Data collected included dental examinations, subject questionnaires and review of hospital records. There were few differences among groups of patients based on categorization into groups of those diagnosed with (1) no dementia, (2) dementia of the Alzheimer's type, and (3) other dementias. However, there were significant differences based on degree of cognitive impairment regardless of dementia diagnosis. Those with severe dementia had poorer gingival health and oral hygiene, but better self-perceived mouth health. There are numerous limitations and inherent difficulties in studies involving persons with dementia, and overcoming these in the future will likely require long-term, interdisciplinary approaches.

The elderly constitute the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Dental schools must educate dental students so that they are competent and confident in managing the treatment needs of elderly patients. Programs in geriatric dentistry have been developed in response to the changing oral health needs of growing numbers of older adults. The purpose of this online survey was to identify the current status of predoctoral geriatric dental education in U.S. dental schools. A questionnaire relating to the teaching of geriatric dentistry was posted on the World Wide Web, and fifty-four U.S. dental schools were invited to complete the form. Data from completed questionnaires were submitted to the investigators via email. Following repeated phone calls and emails to urge school administrators to respond to the electronic questionnaire, a 100 percent response rate was achieved. All schools reported teaching at least some aspects of geriatric dentistry, and 98 percent had curricula that contain required didactic material. Sixty-seven percent of schools reported having a clinical component to geriatric dental teaching. Of these schools, the clinical content was required in 77 percent and elective in the rest. Thirty percent of schools reported a specific geriatric dentistry clinic within the school, and 11 percent had a remote clinical site. Sixty-three percent of schools have a geriatric program director or a chairman of a geriatric section. Over a third of schools indicated that they plan to extend the teaching of geriatric dentistry in the future. Geriatric dental education has continued to expand over the last twenty years and has established itself in the U.S. predoctoral dental curriculum. The format of teaching the subject varies considerably among the dental schools. Although didactic teaching of geriatric dentistry has increased markedly in the last two decades, clinical experience, both intramurally and extramurally, did not keep pace.

The OHIP-14 in Japanese had a high internal reliability, was significantly associated with dental status and comparable ranking for items when compared with studies from other countries.