Abstract:
Background: Respiratory illness has been concomitant with poor oral health and is particularly prevalent in institutionalized geriatric patients. Historically, there has been a decisive gap in preventive dental health in the nursing home population. Objective: Poor oral health status in the older population has been linked to an increased pneumonia risk. This review sought to assess the correlation of poor oral health and respiratory illness and the benefits of preventive dental care in the nursing home population. Suitable recommendations for the implementation of preventive oral health care in this population were investigated. Methods: A total of 17 peer-reviewed studies and three articles were used to gather evidence for this literature review. Included studies were all peer-reviewed cross-sectional, prospective, interventional, retrospective studies, and cluster-randomized controlled trials. Perspective papers by experts in the field were also included. Results: A total of six studies identified poor oral health as a risk factor of pneumonia in nursing homes, while five studies showed the importance of oral contaminant elimination to be effective in reducing pneumonia incidence, and three found oral health education for caregivers to be helpful to reduce pneumonia in this population. However, two intervention studies did not find a significantly lower pneumonia risk with oral health care interventions. Conclusions: A positive association between poor oral health in the nursing home population and incidence of respiratory illness was suggested in the findings. Additionally, proper preventive oral care and oral hygiene education for nursing home caregivers is inadequate. Access to professional preventive dental care and an increase of oral health education in long-term care institutions is associated with a decrease in respiratory illnesses from dental disease.
