Oral Health and Caregivers

Always make time for senior oral health care

When an older adult enters a long-term care facility, family members and caregivers need to make sure oral hygiene remains a priority.

Good oral health is essential to overall health.

• Maintaining a healthy mouth helps seniors eat properly and sleep well.
• Removing plaque from teeth before it can enter the bloodstream lowers the risk of blood clots, hardening of the arteries and blood sugar problems.
• Improving oral hygiene reduces the chances of getting pneumonia or dying from it.¹

If you’re a caregiver, consider compiling an oral health history on older adults you assist. Consider questions like:

• Does the adult wear dentures, and what kind?
• Who is the family dentist?
• When was the senior’s last dental checkup?
• What oral health routines have worked at home with the senior’s family members?

And as a caregiver, consider these tips when assisting an older adult with oral health:

• Always wash hands thoroughly.
• Brush and floss the senior’s teeth every day.
• Dentures should be cleaned daily and removed each night.
• Help seniors avoid dry mouth. Hundreds of medications can reduce the flow of saliva, increasing the risk of tooth decay.
• Check the patient’s mouth for any broken teeth or sores, blisters or lumps.

This information is available for download as an oral health flyer.

1 Rosenblum, Jr., Ralph. “Oral Hygiene Can Reduce the Incidence of and Death Resulting from Pneumonia and Respiratory Tract Infection.” Journal of the American Dental Association 141.9 (2010): 1117–118. Web