Iowa Nursing Facility Oral Hygiene Intervention: A Pilot Study

For the purposes of this pilot study, a convenience sample from six (6) to twelve (12) nursing facilities will be selected and randomly assigned into three groups: Experimental group 1 (educational program only, performed by a dental hygienist); Experimental group 2 (educational program plus 1% chlorhexidine varnish application monthly for the residents); Control group (current oral hygiene practice). Several objective and subjective oral and general health measures will be observed before and after the interventions to evaluate the impact of the interventions on the oral and general health of the residents and also of the direct care workers.

Assigned personnel in each nursing facility (NF) will be interviewed to identify possible barriers to provide oral care. Each interview will take one hour, approximately.

All residents that agree to participate will be interviewed and have an oral examination and dental plaque sample collection by the investigators. Each appointment will take 30 minutes. The subject's health record in the nursing facilities will be abstracted for medical information (date of birth, sex, race, source of payment for NF residency, comorbid conditions, weight, height, medications, number of febrile days, and x-ray documented pneumonia episodes).

After that, the educational program will be delivered in a standardized fashion for all NF in the "educational program only group": 1) Cognitively capable residents will receive instruction on how to perform their own oral hygiene accordingly to their own needs (approximately 15 minutes); and 2) Direct care workers will receive instruction on how to perform oral hygiene for dependent residents or supervise the oral hygiene routines of independent patients (01 hour session). For both 1) and 2) above, dental hygienists will provide a short, standardized presentation and hands-on demonstration. In addition, the dental hygienist will provide in situ oral care (plaque and gingival bleeding index assessment, microbiological sampling and toothbrushing with chlorhexidine mouth rinse) on a bi-weekly basis during the study period (15 minute each appointment) .

The "educational program plus 1% chlorhexidine varnish application group" will receive the educational program described above. In addition, residents who need supervision or are unable to perform oral hygiene procedures will receive 1% chlorhexidine varnish application monthly by the dental hygienist. No additional time commitment will be necessary.The direct care workers will NOT receive any varnish.