Oral health and mouth diseases

Author(s):  
Michael I. MacEntee

The mouth contributes to nutrition, respiration, and communications but it also contains potential pathogens that threaten other parts of the body. It is readily accessible to spot early signs of immune, endocrine, haematological, gastrointestinal, metabolic, and neoplastic disorders. Teeth are destroyed rapidly by the sugar-laden diets and poor oral hygiene that are common occurrences among residents of long-term care facilities. Moreover, the adverse effect of rampant dental caries from medications that disturb salivary flow is too often overlooked by physicians and pharmacists. Oral cancer causes more deaths than each of colorectal, gastric, prostate, and breast cancers, while oral mucositis can be an excruciatingly painful side effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Overall, impairments and disabilities of the mouth and teeth influence physical and cognitive homeostasis and frailty, whereas effective management of oral disorder is an essential component of good geriatric care for successful ageing and quality of life in old age.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S161-S161
Author(s):  
Rebecca L Mauldin ◽  
Kathy Lee ◽  
Antwan Williams

Abstract Older adults from racial and ethnic minority groups face health inequities in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities just as they do in the United States as a whole. In spite of federal policy to support minority health and ensure the well-being of long-term care facility residents, disparities persist in residents’ quality of care and quality of life. This poster presents current federal policy in the United States to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities and to support long-term care facility residents’ health and well-being. It includes legislation enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), regulations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for health care facilities receiving Medicare or Medicare funds, and policies of the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program. Recommendations to address threats to or gaps in these policies include monitoring congressional efforts to revise portions of the ACA, revising DHHS requirements for long-term care facilities staff training and oversight, and amending requirements for the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program to mandate collection, analysis, and reporting of resident complaint data by race and ethnicity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 57-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H Wagner

Residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities comprise a large percentage of the deaths from Covid 19. Is this inevitable or are there problems with NHs and their care that increase the susceptibility of their residents. The first U.S. cluster of cases involved the residents, staff, and visitors of a Seattle-area nursing home. Study of this cluster suggested that infected staff members were transmitting the disease to residents. The quality of nursing home care has long been a concern and attributed to chronic underfunding and resulting understaffing. Most NH care is delivered by minimally trained nursing assistants whose low pay and limited benefits compel them to work in multiple long-term care settings, increasing their risk of infection, and work while ill. More comparative studies of highly infected long-term care facilities with those organizations that were able to better protect their residents are urgently needed. Early evidence suggests that understaffing of registered nurses may increase the risk of larger outbreaks.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Colin Reid

Seniors with dementia who enter long-term care facilities are at greater risk of death than are similar individuals that remain in the community. Previous research has focused primarily on social selection factors such as health status to explain mortality in this population. This study seeks to determine whether resident mortality within 12 months of admission to a facility can be explained by post-admission social causative factors, that is, by institutional quality of care. Logistic regression results are based on the study of 402 residents in 73 long-term care facilities throughout British Columbia, Canada. Mortality data were obtained from Vital Statistics. Although social selection factors (e.g., physical dependency) emerge as the strongest predictors, one social causative factor – facility level restraint use – also predicts mortality. This study provides some evidence that social causative factors play a role in determining mortality among long-term care residents with dementia. Further research on the social causative factors is needed to understand the degree to which they affect mortality, and the way in which they do so.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S442-S442
Author(s):  
Ethan A McMahan ◽  
Marion Godoy ◽  
Abiola Awosanya ◽  
Robert Winningham ◽  
Charles De Vilmorin ◽  
...  

Abstract Empirical research on long-term care facility resident engagement has consistently indicated that increased engagement is associated with more positive clinical outcomes and increased quality of life. The current study adds to this existing literature by documenting the positive effects of technologically-mediated recreational programing on quality of life and medication usage in aged residents living in long-term care facilities. Technologically-mediated recreational programming was defined as recreational programming that was developed, implemented, and /or monitored using software platforms dedicated specifically for these types of activities. This study utilized a longitudinal design and was part of a larger project examining quality of life in older adults. A sample of 272 residents from three long-term care facilities in Toronto, Ontario participated in this project. Resident quality of life was assessed at multiple time points across a span of approximately 12 months, and resident engagement in recreational programming was monitored continuously during this twelve-month period. Quality of life was measured using the Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set Version 2.0. Number of pharmacological medication prescriptions received during the twelve-month study period was also assessed. Descriptive analyses indicated that, in general, resident functioning tended to decrease over time. However, when controlling for age, gender, and baseline measures of resident functioning, engagement in technologically-mediated recreational programming was positively associated with several indicators of quality of life. The current findings thus indicate that engagement in technology-mediated recreational programming is associated with increased quality of life of residents in long-term care facilities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. 547-547
Author(s):  
J. Prudhomm ◽  
V. Morin-Chouarbi ◽  
M. Bechac ◽  
E. Menand ◽  
A. Corvol ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S341-S341
Author(s):  
Shu-Chuan Chen ◽  
Wendy Moyle ◽  
Cindy Jones

Abstract Aim: This study aimed to explore the effect of a social robot Paro intervention on depression and well-being in older adults with depression living in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Methods: This study was adopted a single group and quasi-experimental with repeated measures design. Each participant participated in two stages: observation and Paro intervention stages. Stage 1 was an 8-week observation stage in long-term care facilities where the purpose was to observe the normal mood, behaviour and activities of older adults with depression. In stage 2, each participant was given a Paro by the researcher to keep for 24 hours for 7 days in for 8 weeks. Outcome measurements were obtained 4 times: a week before the intervention (T1), immediately the end of 8-week observation (T2), mid-point of Paro intervention (T3), and immediately the end of 8-week Paro intervention (T4). Instruments included the Geriatric Depression Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale version 3, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-OLD. Results: There were 20 participants completed the study. The mean age of participants was 81.1years (SD = 8.2). After 8-week Paro intervention, statistically significant differences in changes were found on depression, loneliness, and quality of life from pre-intervention to post-intervention. Conclusion: This study was found that Paro intervention has beneficial effects on depression and mental well-being for older people with depression in long-term care facilities. Paro Intervention might be a suitable psychosocial intervention for older people with depression and should be considered as a useful tool in clinical practice.


2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (02) ◽  
pp. 67-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Loeb ◽  
Lorraine Moss ◽  
Angela Stiller ◽  
Stephanie Smith ◽  
Rosalie Russo ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. 1355-1355
Author(s):  
J. Wang ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
Y. Cao ◽  
S. Jia ◽  
B. Wu

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