Oral health care should be taken extremely seriously in care homes, given the challenges posed by the residents’ age or conditions.
Not only does good oral hygiene and care improve residents’ overall health and wellbeing: it also helps them stay independent and maintain their dignity.
Unfortunately, the reality is often different in most care homes. Here’s why.
What Issues Do The Elderly Face in Terms of Oral Healthcare?
The elderly face more challenging issues when it comes to oral healthcare.
This is mainly due to common long-term conditions (such as dementia, arthritis, or Parkinson’s disease) that make it harder to use a toothbrush or, in some cases, remember to do so regularly.
Several medicines also affect the amount of saliva produced, and a dry mouth can lead to problems like mouth sores, infections, gum diseases, increased plaque, and tooth decay.
However, while this is true for most people over 65, it’s shocking to realise that oral health is actually worse in care homes.
For example, 73% of residents present tooth decay, whereas it is only found in 40% of the elderly outside these facilities.
The Worrying Oral Health Care Situation in Care Homes
The Care Quality Commission has shone a light on the reality of oral health in these facilities through the Smiling Matters report:
- Over half of all UK care homes haven’t got a policy to protect and look after their residents’ oral health
- 73% of their plans don’t even include oral health (or only do so partly) in the first place
- Nearly half of UK care homes do not train staff when it comes to supporting or improving oral health care for residents
With oral hygiene not being a priority in so many care facilities, it’s no wonder that residents are at higher risk of teeth- or gum-related problems.
SET YOUR CARE HOME STAFF UP FOR SUCCESS
Explore our range of training courses, designed to improve care sector employee knowledge.
How Can You Help Patients with Oral Care?
The Care Quality Commission report states that carers require better training in oral care.
It also explains that care homes should follow the NG48 guidelines provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, as well as being able to show evidence of how their staff maintain residents’ oral health effectively.
But what does this look like in practice?
Initial Oral Health Assessment
When a new resident moves into your care facility, your staff should carry out an oral health assessment and record it in their plan, asking questions like:
- Who is your dentist? When did you last see them?
- How do you tend to manage your oral hygiene?
- Would you like help with that? If so, of what kind?
- What do you use for your oral hygiene? (e.g. manual or electric toothbrushes, dental floss, mouthwash, etc.)
- Have you got dentures? Are they marked with your name?
Care Staff Assistance
Your care home staff must also be able to reassess your residents’ oral health after the initial report.
Most importantly, they need to support your patients with their daily oral health care in the right way and respecting the preferences that emerged during their first assessment.
For example, this could involve:
- Ensuring that residents with natural teeth brush them at least twice a day
- Helping them do so (if necessary) using the resident’s choice of products
- Ensuring that residents with dentures clean them correctly and remove them overnight
- Helping them use their choice of products, if relevant
Oral Hygiene Course for Care Homes
As a care home provider, it’s your responsibility to make sure that every single member of your staff guarantees the right oral health care for your residents.
To provide them with the right training and comply with the NG48 guidelines, you should offer them an oral hygiene course.
This doesn’t have to be costly nor time-consuming.
At Learn 2 Excel, we offer a CPD-accredited Oral Health Awareness online course that your staff members can follow at their own pace.
This means that it won’t affect the day-to-day running of your facility nor require you to organise expensive in-person training sessions.
You’ll also get to make the most of our quantity discounts to ensure that none of your carers misses out on it.
Our oral hygiene course for care homes covers essential topics like:
- Understanding the importance of oral health care when it comes to health, wellbeing, and dignity
- Identifying the risks of untreated dental problems and flaky dental hygiene
- Learning how to deliver daily oral care
- Knowing how and when to reassess it, how to report concerns, and how to adapt to a resident’s changing situation
- Understanding why denture marking is important in care homes and how to arrange it
Stop overlooking oral health care in your facility: access our oral hygiene course to bring (or maintain) a smile to your residents’ faces.
