Opinions of dentists on the barriers in providing oral health care to community-dwelling frail older people: a questionnaire survey.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent dentists in the Netherlands experience barriers in providing oral health care to community-dwelling older people.

Background: As most publications on the barriers in providing oral health care to older people consist of surveys on oral health care in care homes, it was decided to investigate the barriers dentists experience in their own dental practices while providing oral health care to community-dwelling frail older people.

Material And Methods: A representative sample of 1592 of the approximately 8000 dentists in the Netherlands aged 64 or younger were invited to respond to a questionnaire online.

Risk of aspiration in care home residents and associated factors.

Pneumonia is a prevalent cause of death in care home residents. Dysphagia is a significant risk factor of aspiration pneumonia. The purpose of the current study was to screen for risk of aspiration in care home residents in the Netherlands and assess potential risk factors of aspiration.

Subjective dysphagia in older care home residents: a cross-sectional, multi-centre point prevalence measurement.

Background: Dysphagia has been found to be strongly associated with aspiration pneumonia in frail older people. Aspiration pneumonia is causing high hospitalization rates, morbidity, and often death. Better insight in the prevalence of (subjective) dysphagia in frail older people may improve its early recognition and treatment.

Effect of oral healthcare education on knowledge, attitude and skills of care home nurses: a systematic literature review.

Objectives: To systematically review the literature on the effect of providing oral healthcare education to care home nurses on their oral healthcare knowledge and attitude and their oral hygiene care skills.

Methods: A literature search was obtained for relevant articles on oral healthcare education of nurses in care homes, using five electronic retrieval systems and databases. The search was limited to human studies, articles published in English and articles published during the period January 1990 to December 2011.

Effectiveness of supervised implementation of an oral health care guideline in care homes; a single-blinded cluster randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a supervised implementation of the "Oral health care Guideline for Older people in Long-term care Institutions" (OGOLI) in The Netherlands.

Materials And Methods: A sample of 12 care homes in the Netherlands was allocated randomly to an intervention or control group. While the residents in the control group received oral health care as before, the intervention consisted of a supervised implementation of the OGOLI.

Saliva secretion rate and acidity in a group of physically disabled older care home residents.

A growing number of older people have teeth, which are vulnerable to oral diseases. To maintain good oral health, an adequate amount of saliva should be secreted and the saliva should possess adequate buffer capacity. The study aim was to investigate the associations of saliva secretion rate and acidity with gender, age, and some medical characteristics in a convenience sample of physically disabled older care home residents.

An oral health care guideline for institutionalised older people.

Institutionalized older people are prone to oral health problems and their negative impact due to frailty, disabilities, multi-morbidity, and multiple medication use. Until recently, no evidence-based oral health care guideline for institutionalized older people has been available. For that reason, the Dutch Association of Nursing Home Physicians developed the Oral health care Guideline for Older people in Long-term care Institutions (OGOLI), meeting the requirements of the AGREE instrument for assessing a guideline's quality.

Oral hygiene of elderly people in long-term care institutions--a cross-sectional study.

Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the level of oral hygiene in elderly people living in long-term care institutions and to investigate the relationship between institutional and individual characteristics, and the observed oral cleanliness.

Materials And Methods: Clinical outcome variables, denture plaque and dental plaque were gathered from 359 older people (14%) living in 19 nursing homes. Additional data were collected by a questionnaire filled out by all health care workers employed in the nursing homes.

Oral health care for frail elderly people: actual state and opinions of dentists towards a well-organised community approach.

Objective: This study was undertaken to provide an analysis of the actual oral heath care for frail elderly people living in different settings and to explore opinions of dentists towards new concepts in developing a community approach.

Method: Data were collected from a sample of 101 dentists (15%) in the county of Antwerp using a self-administered 30-item questionnaire including questions about age, gender, education, organisational aspects of dental surgery, questions concerning dentists' own contribution to oral healthcare services for frail elderly people and statements concerning opinions and attitude toward the organisation of oral health care for frail elderly people. At the same time, qualitative data were collected from focus group sessions with all participating dentists.

Factors contributing to the variation in oral hygiene practices and facilities in long-term care institutions for the elderly.

Objective: This study was designed to explore variations in oral hygiene practices and facilities in long-term care institutions for elders. Reported level of caregivers' knowledge related to oral health, reported work-climate, management, size of the institution and the mean age and degree of dependency of residents were evaluated.

Methods: Sixteen nursing homes were selected, using stratified random sampling, in the region of Gent (Flanders).