Oral findings in elderly nursing home residents in selected countries: oral hygiene conditions and plaque accumulation on denture surfaces.

Many removable-denture wearers do not keep their prostheses clean. One result of poor hygiene is the accumulation of plaque and/or food debris on the denture surfaces, the oral tissues, the residual ridges, palate, cheeks, and tongue. In the study of the oral conditions of geriatric patients living in institutions, 610 patients were examined in seven old-age homes in four different countries: the United States, Peru, Argentina, and Israel.

Oral findings in elderly nursing home residents in selected countries. 2. Soft tissue lesions and denture wearing habits.

This paper demonstrated that 38% of the 610 examinees at seven institutions in four countries have soft tissue lesions. Seventy to eighty percent of the detected lesions were of the erythematous type. This incidence was found at institutions with and without attending dentists, in denture and non-denture users, in dependent and independent patients. Tissue lesions in denture wearers were four times as many as in non-denture wearers. The percentage of inflammatory lesions in both denture and non-denture wearers was considerably higher at institutions with no attending dental personnel when compared with those with dental care facilities. Where patients depended on the staff and/or their relatives for their personal hygiene, a sharp increase in pathological findings was seen when compared to independent dwellers. The nursing staff and the relatives know very little about the oral problems of the elderly residents. There was no uniform policy about telling patients when to wear their removable dentures and patients did not always follow instructions when they were given. Many patients sleep with their upper denture while the lower one is removed for the night. Patients sometimes sleep in the dentures and sometimes remove one or both dentures for varying periods of time. The high percentage of soft tissue lesions and erratic denture wearing habits point to neglect and insufficient oral care toward the geriatric population studied.