Oral health promotion program for fostering self-management of the elderly living in communities. Issue 3 (3rd July 2017) - Sakashita, Reiko
Abstract: Objectives: A program fostering self-management for the elderly was implemented and the effects of the program and their continuities were assessed.Methods: Subjects consisted of 19 males and 131 females (average age, 73.1 ± 7.4; range, 60–94 years). The intervention program consisted of the collective experience learning and private consultation. The collective experience learnings included; (1) monitoring the oral condition and practicing oral self-care, (2) monitoring the oral function and practicing oral exercises, and (3) group discussion on continuing oral self-care. Outcomes were evaluated at the beginning and the end of the intervention program, and three months after the investigation by the scores in; (1) oral self-care (2) oral condition, i.e., decayed teeth, community periodontal index (CPI), deposits of plaque and dental calculus, (3) oral function such as RSST, oral diadochokinesis, (4) QOL (SF-8 v2™, and GOHAI), and (5) cognitive function (MMSE-J). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects, and this study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Hyogo.Results and Discussion: At three months after intervention, 124 subjects continued participating and 88 subjects (71%) completed all data. On the oral self-care, subjects cleaned their teeth more often and longer than before ( P < 0.001). The use of dental floss and interdental brushing significantly increased in number ( P < 0.001), and 67 participants (54%) visited the dentist during the program. CPI and deposits of plaque were significantly reduced after intervention ( P < 0.001). The scores of oral function also significantly improved ( P < 0.001–0.05). The scores of QOL (physical health), oral QOL and cognitive function significantly improved ( P < 0.001–0.05). These results suggest that this program not only promotes oral self-care, resulting in good oral health conditions, but also improves cognitive functions of the elderly.