Mouth Care in Assisted Living: Potential Areas for Improvement.

Background: Poor oral care may lead to systemic disease, and there is evidence that assisted living (AL) residents lack quality oral care; in AL, poor care may be due to staff knowledge and attitudes, as well as organizational barriers to providing care.

Objectives: Determine AL staff knowledge and attitudes regarding mouth care and barriers to changing care.

Design: Self-administered repeated-measures questionnaires completed before and after oral care training.