ABSTRACT
Individuals with communication and swallowing disorders often exhibit poor oral health and hygiene (OHH), that can lead to further complications. OHH assessment and management is a part of scope of practice of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs). The study aims to determine the level of awareness, knowledge and practice patterns of OHH amongst the SLPs in India. A questionnaire with 20-item and three sections was developed to assess the awareness and knowledge regarding OHH among SLPs. A total of 162 participants responded to the survey. 93.2% participants were aware of the importance of OHH, however 42.6% participants did not feel confident enough to assess the same. A majority (82.7%) agreed that poor OHH can lead to different health complications. 38.8% of the participants responded that they assessed oral health only sometimes and 54.3% reported that they never used any standard screening/assessment tools to assess oral health. Only a very small percentage of participants (28.65%) counselled the patients for maintenance of oral hygiene and more than 40% never recommended appropriate OHH practices during management. Though a vast majority were aware of the importance of OHH and consequences of poor OHH, they did not feel confident and consequently did not incorporate OHH during clinical practice. Though the scope of SLP includes oral care assessment and management, Indian SLPs were not practicing this. Hence, the clinical and academic curriculum should focus on topics pertaining to oral health assessment and management, which will improve the quality-of-service delivery of the SLPs.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the study was to compare four measures of TOMASS (number of bites, number of masticatory cycles, number of swallowing and total time taken) across brands of Marie biscuits and gender. METHODOLOGY: The study employed a cross-sectional design with nonrandomized convenience sampling. A total of 60 participants (30 females and 30 males) were recruited for the study in the age range of 18 to 26 years. Prior to enrolment in the study, the participants were screened for potential speech and swallowing issues. Two commercially available crackers (biscuits) in India, Sunfeast Marie Light and Britannia Marie Gold were used. Video recordings of the participants eating the biscuits were analyzed to document four measures of TOMASS. RESULTS: The mean values obtained on all the measures for males were lesser than mean values for females for both the biscuits. Mann-Whitney U test revealed a statistically significant difference across number of swallows and total time taken across gender. There were no significant differences across biscuits on the four TOMASS measures. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the TOMASS measures were near similar for both brands of Marie biscuits. Thus, any of these two brands of Marie could be used for clinical swallow evaluation. However, gender needs to be kept in mind, while interpreting the results of TOMASS. Future studies need to be conducted with other brands of Marie biscuit and in other age groups.
