What doesn’t work in long-term care

A new article in the Journal of the American Medical Association points to the futility of supervised brushing and flossing to improve the oral health and to lower the incidence of pneumonia among residents in long-term care. In a randomized trial over 2 years, residents with nurse-supervised oral hygiene routines experienced no reduction in pneumonia than those who had no such oversight.

On two accounts, this approach to improving oral health in long term care was flawed: first, it relied on an overburdened nursing team and second, in mouths with chronic oral inflammation and frequent decay at the gum line, brushing and flossing is too little and too late in managing these medical conditions.

Poor oral health is relevant, moreover, to more than pneumonia. Cognitive function, respiratory capacity, hypertension, complications from diabetes are all impacted by poor oral health.

In this context, measures to manage poor oral health which go well beyond brushing and flossing, are needed.

Long-term care requires health services which are designed to minimize the burden on the nursing team, and to maximize patient adherence and affordability. Prevora has these features particularly when it is delivered by independent hygienists skilled at quick diagnosis and gentle management of oral dysbiosis.