{"title":"Oral Health Management by Dental Hygienists and Older Adults' Food Forms in Long-Term Care Facilities: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study.","authors":"Kaoru Inamoto, Kimiya Ozaki, Yutaka Watanabe, Yutaka Yamazaki, Yuki Ohara, Masanori Iwasaki, Hirohiko Hirano, Midori Tsuneishi, Tsuyoshi Kodama, Mitsuyoshi Yoshida, Shunsuke Minakuchi","doi":"10.1111/ger.12810","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To date, no studies have directly investigated the association between oral health management (OHM) and food forms. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between OHM by dental hygienists and food forms in older adults admitted to long-term care facilities (LTCFs).</p><p><strong>Background: </strong>OHM involves oral health maintenance by dental hygienists and may prevent weight loss and pneumonia in older adults admitted to LTCFs.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Older adults in LTCFs in Japan (n = 273) who participated in baseline (2018) and follow-up (2019) surveys were evaluated. Basic characteristics, medical history, OHM status, oral maintenance management status, food forms, and oral conditions were investigated at baseline. After 1 year, a follow-up survey was conducted only on food items. Furthermore, factors associated with the maintenance or improvement in food forms after 1 year were examined using binomial logistic regression analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall, 273 (69.2%) older adults in LTCFs required OHM by dental hygienists during the follow-up year, of whom 142 (52.0%) received OHM and 88 maintained or improved their regular diet. The analyses revealed that the maintenance or improvement in food forms after 1 year was significantly associated with OHM implementation (odds ratio: 2.01, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-3.90).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>OHM in older adults in Japanese LTCFs was associated with the maintenance or improvement in food forms, emphasising the importance of OHM for these individuals. OHM may also maintain or improve eating and swallowing functions, improving nutritional status.</p>","PeriodicalId":12583,"journal":{"name":"Gerodontology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gerodontology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ger.12810","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DENTISTRY, ORAL SURGERY & MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: To date, no studies have directly investigated the association between oral health management (OHM) and food forms. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between OHM by dental hygienists and food forms in older adults admitted to long-term care facilities (LTCFs).
Background: OHM involves oral health maintenance by dental hygienists and may prevent weight loss and pneumonia in older adults admitted to LTCFs.
Materials and methods: Older adults in LTCFs in Japan (n = 273) who participated in baseline (2018) and follow-up (2019) surveys were evaluated. Basic characteristics, medical history, OHM status, oral maintenance management status, food forms, and oral conditions were investigated at baseline. After 1 year, a follow-up survey was conducted only on food items. Furthermore, factors associated with the maintenance or improvement in food forms after 1 year were examined using binomial logistic regression analysis.
Results: Overall, 273 (69.2%) older adults in LTCFs required OHM by dental hygienists during the follow-up year, of whom 142 (52.0%) received OHM and 88 maintained or improved their regular diet. The analyses revealed that the maintenance or improvement in food forms after 1 year was significantly associated with OHM implementation (odds ratio: 2.01, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-3.90).
Conclusion: OHM in older adults in Japanese LTCFs was associated with the maintenance or improvement in food forms, emphasising the importance of OHM for these individuals. OHM may also maintain or improve eating and swallowing functions, improving nutritional status.
期刊介绍:
The ultimate aim of Gerodontology is to improve the quality of life and oral health of older people. The boundaries of most conventional dental specialties must be repeatedly crossed to provide optimal dental care for older people. In addition, management of other health problems impacts on dental care and clinicians need knowledge in these numerous overlapping areas. Bringing together these diverse topics within one journal serves clinicians who are seeking to read and to publish papers across a broad spectrum of specialties. This journal provides the juxtaposition of papers from traditional specialties but which share this patient-centred interest, providing a synergy that serves progress in the subject of gerodontology.