The Effects of Oral Care Education on Caregivers' Knowledge, Attitude, & Behavior toward Oral Hygiene for Elderly Residents in a Nursing Home

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of oral care education on knowledge, attitudes & behavior of caregivers in oral care and oral hygiene for residents in nursing homes. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, the intervention group (n=27) of residents received oral care from intervention group caregivers (n=28) who had received 6 weeks of oral care education. The control group (n=27) of residents received usual oral care from control group caregivers (n=26). Data on knowledge, attitude, and behavioral change in oral health care by the caregivers and plaque index & halitosis of the residents were collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 16.0. RESULTS: 1) Scores on caregivers' knowledge (p<.001) and behavior (p<.001) for oral care were higher in the intervention group 6 and 12 weeks. The caregivers' attitude (p<.001) score for oral care was higher in the intervention group 12 weeks. 2) The plaque index (p=.004) and halitosis (p=.002) of the nursing home residents were lower in the intervention group than the control group at 6 and 12 weeks. CONCLUSION: Oral care education programs for caregivers are effective in improving the oral hygiene of elderly residents in nursing homes through enhancement of caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and behavioral change.

Educative practices and attitudes within the pre-school environment: evaluating the education professionals

School and family together play an important role in the individual development of children. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the practices and attitudes towards oral health care of 245 education professionals working in 24 public municipal pre-schools in Niterói, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The data were obtained from self-questionnaires consisting of both open and closed questions. The methodology was both quantitative and qualitative, and the quantitative analysis was based on frequency ( percent). Regarding oral health practices, it was observed that the majority of the education professionals emphasized toothbrushing as a vital method of oral hygiene. In addition, 70.7 percent of the education professionals performed other types of oral hygiene activities with the schoolchildren, and 17.1 percent did so with the children's families. All the participants of the study considered that education professionals have a key role in promoting healthy oral habits amongst the schoolchildren and they believe that involving the dentist in educative programs is important. It was therefore concluded that the education professionals surveyed have positive practices and attitudes regarding the children's care, and they recognize their role in fostering healthy habits and developing integrated pedagogic oral health programs.

Patología oral del recién nacido / Oral pathology of newborn

En nuestro medio no existen planes de prevención en salud oral destinados a los bebés y tampoco el odontólogo controla al niño durante su primer año que es cuando se detectan las alteraciones fisiológicas o patológicas, y es cuando se puede encarar mejor los problemas sobre todo con un componente preventivo.

Avaliação de dezoito meses de um programa de saúde bucal em alunos de uma escola municipal do Rio de Janeiro / Eighteen period evaluation of an oral health program put in practice among students of a municipal school in Rio de Janeiro

O presente trabalho visa avaliar de forma crítica o programa de saúde bucal do escolar implantado pela UFRJ desde 1998 tendo como base a aplicação direta da técnica de tratamento restaurador atraumático (TRA) preconizada pela OMS. Além das restaurações, o programa engloba a educação para a saúde e o atendimento das necessidades acumuladas das crianças em clínica da UFRJ/IPPMG. Após dezoito meses de aplicação do programa, podemos observar que a maioria dos TRA está no lugar, apesar de terem sido feitos em segundos molares decíduos, sendo indicado o acompanhamento do programa para melhores resultados

Estudo longitudinal de pacientes portadores de próteses parciais removíveis (P.P.R.), em relaçäo às estruturas de suporte e suas próteses: avaliaçäo comparativa entre grupos com e sem acompanhamento profissional, variando-se o tempo de uso da prótese / Longitudinal study of patients with removable partial denture (R.P.D.), in relation to supporting structures and their denture: comparative evaluation between groups with and without professional follow-up, varying the time of use of the denture

Neste estudo longitudinal analisou-se um programa com bases educativa e preventiva desenvolvendo com adultos, após tratamento protético com Prótese Parcial Removível, na Clínica de Prótese do Curso de Graduaçäo da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, da Universidade de Säo Paulo. Todos os pacientes receberam instruçöes em higiene oral e da prótese e um adequado tratamento prévio geral e protético. As próteses parciais removíveis foram cuidadosamente planejadas e desenhadas. Três grupos de pacientes foram avaliados: grupo I - chamados após 1 ano de uso da P.P.R.; Grupo II - chamados após 2 anos de uso da P.P.R.; Grupo III - chamados de 3 em 3 meses, logo após a entrega da P.P.R. Foi realizado um exame inicial nos pacientes para avaliar a capacidade tampäo e pH da saliva; presença de cárie, restauraçäo ou face hígida, higiene bucal (índice de placa); mobilidade dos dentes e inflamaçäo gengival (índice gengival)...