'Whose role is it anyway?' Experiences of community nurses in the delivery and support of oral health care for older people living at home: a grounded theory study.

BACKGROUND: Older people who receive care at home are likely to require support with oral health care. Community nurses, who are also referred to as district or home care nurses, have an important role with this population. This is because they are the healthcare professionals who are most likely to encounter this population, who may also not be receiving regular dental care or oral health promotion. However, few studies have explored community nursing experiences in the delivery and support of oral healthcare for older people living at home. METHODS: A grounded theory approach was used to explore experiences of community nurses in the delivery and support of oral health care for older people living at home. Fifteen practising community nurses from the United Kingdom participated in one-to-one semi-structed interviews from May 2021 to December 2021. These interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using constant comparative analysis. Ethical approval was obtained for this study prior to data collection. RESULTS: Four categories emerged from the data to support development of the core phenomena. These four categories were: (1) Education, in relation to what community nurses knew about oral health, (2) Practice, with regards to how community nurses delivered oral health care to older people in their own home, (3) Confidence, with consideration to the extent to which this supported or impeded community nurses in providing oral healthcare to older people and (4) Motivation, in terms of the extent to which community nurses thought they could or should influence future practice improvement in the area. The core category was (C) Uncertainty as it was both present and central across all four categories and related to community nursing understanding about their specific role, and the role of other professionals, with reference to oral health of their patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals community nurses' uncertainty in providing oral healthcare to older adults at home. Emphasising comprehensive and continuous oral health education can boost nurses' confidence in patient support. Interprofessional collaboration and clear role definitions with oral health professionals are crucial for improving oral health outcomes in this vulnerable population.

Evaluation of a co-designed educational e-resource about oral health for community nurses: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Oral health is a crucial aspect of health and wellbeing for older people. Poor oral health has been found to significantly increase the risk of chronic health conditions and poor quality of life for older people. Nurses practicing in the community are well-placed to provide oral health care to older people in their own homes, yet there has been little research in this field to develop accessible support for them to do so. Previous literature, reviewed in an earlier phase of this work, revealed that there has, historically, been a paucity of oral health care education for nurses and very few educational resources have been developed in this field. METHODS: This study will evaluate an educational e-resource which has been co-designed by service users, carers and clinicians. In the first phase of research, evidence of promise will be evaluated by analysing quantitative data on community nurses' oral health attitudes and self-efficacy for oral health assessments of older people. In the second phase of research, facilitators and barriers to community nurses' provision of oral health care to older people and the acceptability of the educational e-resource will be evaluated. DISCUSSION: This research will investigate the potential of an educational e-resource to improve community nurses' capabilities to deliver oral health care to older people in their own homes. This research will inform both future intervention design and understanding of community nurses' knowledge and attitudes about oral health care. Facilitators and barriers to provision of this care for older people will also be explored.

EFFECT OF AUTOGENOUS BONE GRAFT SITE ON DENTAL IMPLANT SURVIVAL AND DONOR SITE COMPLICATIONS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS.

OBJECTIVES: This systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to answer the following focus questions: Is the implant survival in augmented bone utilizing iliac crest bone grafts the same as while using intraoral autologous bone grafts? Is the incidence of postoperative donor site complications the same when using iliac crest bone grafts as opposed to intraoral grafts? METHODS: Systematic searches of electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL) were performed to identify studies which reported on implant survival and postoperative complications for dental implants placed in grafted partially/completely edentulous human jaws. Studies were included if: they reported on 2-piece micro-rough surface root form dental implants placed in bone-augmented completely or partially edentulous human jaws, and the jaws must have been augmented with autologous bone graft materials. Time and nature of postoperative complications must have been reported. Two investigators performed data extraction and a Cohen's unweighted kappa was calculated for inter-investigator reliability. A meta-analysis was performed for the extracted data on implant survival rate in both iliac crest grafts and intra-oral grafts. A qualitative analysis was performed on the information extracted on graft donor site complications. Quality assessment of the included studies were done using the Cochrane collaboration tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa scales. RESULTS: A total of 23 studies were included in the final analysis. The calculated kappa ranged between 0.77-0.89 for the literature search and identification process. Fourteen studies were included with data on implant survival including five randomized controlled clinical trials. The meta-analysis of included studies revealed that the implant survival rate of dental implants placed in jaws augmented with iliac crest grafts was lower than those placed in jaws augmented with intra-oral bone grafts at 6-months [ICG = 95.8% IOG = 98.4%; P < .001], 12-months [ICG = 97.0%, IOG = 98.4%; P < .001], 24-months [ICG = 85.9%, IOG = 98.2%; P < .001], 60-months [ICG = 90.0%, IOG = 91.5%; P < .001], and at 120-months [ICG = 88.8%, IOG = 95.2%; P < .001] follow-up periods. Iliac crest grafts were also frequently associated with donor site complications including pain / discomfort, gait disturbance, and sensory disturbance. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrates that implant survival is consistently higher in bone harvested from intraoral sites compared to iliac crest grafts. Donor site complications seemed to be a frequent finding with iliac crest grafts and mental grafts. FUNDING: None. REGISTRATION: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: International prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42021283738).

Implant- supported fixed prostheses give greatest OHRQoL improvement.

Data sources Medline, Cochrane Central, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database, Health Technology Assessment Database, Web of Science and the abstracts of conference proceedings for International Association for Dental Research meetings.Study selection Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCTs, and cohort studies measuring pre-treatment to post-treatment change in oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) score using validated measures were included.Data extraction and synthesis Two reviewers independently screened and selected studies, and extracted data. Risk of bias was assessed independently using the Cochrane tool for RCTs and the Newcastle Ottawa Scale for non-randomised studies. Random effects meta-analysis was used to compare change in OHRQoL scores.Results Twenty one cohort studies and two RCTs were included. Eight studies investigated implant-supported crowns (ISCs), ten studies reported on implant-supported fixed dental prostheses (IFDPs), nine on dental prostheses (TFDPs) and two implant-supported removable dental prostheses (IRDPs). Seventeen papers contributed to the meta-analysis. At nine months the pooled mean OHRQoL change was 15.3 for TFDP, 11.9 for RPD, and 14.9 for IFDP and the pooled standardised OHRQoL change >9 months was 13.2 for TFDP and 15.8 for IFDP. Direct comparisons nine months between TFDP against IFDP and RPD against IFDP significantly favoured IFDP in both cases.Conclusions TFDP and IFDP had short- and long-term positive effects on OHRQoL. RPDs positively affected OHRQoL in the short term. IFDP showed greater short-term improvement in OHRQoL than RPD and TFDP.

Prosthodontic management of a patient with mandibular asymmetry: a case report.

This case report outlines a conservative treatment approach utilized in the management of a patient with a transverse left-sided mandibular asymmetry, in an attempt to obtain a functional and esthetic occlusion using removable intraoral prostheses. A positive final result was achieved by maintaining close communication with the on-site dental technician.

Stabilisation of premature infants in the delivery room with nasal high flow.

OBJECTIVE: This was a pilot study to determine the feasibility of using nasal high flow (nHF) (also known as heated humidified high-flow nasal cannula) for stabilisation of babies born at <30 weeks gestation in the delivery room (DR) and transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Single-centre NICU. PATIENTS: Infants born at <30 weeks gestation. INTERVENTIONS: Stabilisation and transfer to NICU using nHF. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Feasibility of stabilisation as defined by successful transfer and clinical measures of stability at admission to NICU including oxygen requirement, temperature, requirement for surfactant and inotrope use within 72 h of delivery. RESULTS: Twenty-eight babies were enrolled after written parental consent had been obtained. 25/28 were successfully stabilised in the DR and transferred to the NICU on nHF. The average admission temperature for babies transferred on nHF was 36.9°C and the average inspired oxygen at admission was 29%. Less than half (48%) required surfactant and 60% were still on nHF 72 h after admission. 1 baby received inotropes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that using nHF for stabilisation of premature infants in the DR and subsequent transfer to NICU is feasible. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01991886.