Improving Oral Hygiene in Institutionalised Elderly by Educating Their Caretakers in Bangalore City, India: a Randomised Control Trial

Abstract

Background

The population of older people, as well as the number of dependent older people, is steadily increasing; those unable tolive independently at home are being cared for in a range ofsettings. Practical training for nurses and auxiliary care staff has frequently been recommended as a way of improving oralhealth care for functionally dependent elderly. The aim was improve oral hygiene in institutionalized elderly in Bangalorecity by educating their caregivers.

Methods

The study is a cluster randomized intervention trial with an elderly home as unit of randomization in which 7 out of 65 elderly homes were selected. Oral health knowledge of caregivers was assessed using a pre-tested pro forma and later oral-health education was provided to the caregivers ofthe study group. Oral hygiene status of elderly residents was assessed by levels of debris, plaque of dentate and denture plaque, and denture stomatitis of denture wearing residents,respectively. Oral-health education to the caregivers of control group was given at the end of six months

Results

There was significant improvement in oral-health knowledge of caregivers from the baseline and also a significant reduction of plaque score from baseline score of 3.17 ± 0.40 to 1.57 ± 0.35 post-intervention (p < .001), debris score2.87 ± 0.22 to 1.49 ± 0.34 (p < .001), denture plaque score 3.15 ± 0.47 to 1.21 ± 0.27 (p < .001), and denture stomatitis score 1.43 ± 0.68 to 0.29 ± 0.53 (p < .001).

Conclusions

The result of the present study showed that there was a significant improvement in the oral-health knowledge among the caregivers and oral-hygiene status of the elderly residents.