Dental care of the seniors in the nursing homes.

Sammanfattning

ABSTRACT Background: During the past years the authorities and the dental care in the world have begun to realize the importance of maintaining a good oral health of the seniors. The care staff at special residences have an essential role in the daily oral care of the elderly. The oral state of health is also important for the rest of the health. Studies show that oral care is deficient in the elderly and needs to be highlighted as the elderly population is expected to increase. Aim: The aim of this literature review is to evaluate the potential improvement regarding the staff's work with oral care in elderly care. Methods: Literature study search was performed with MeSh terms in the database PubMed and Scopus. The following keywords have searched:Dental care for aged, Education, Nursing homes, Nursing staff, Oral health, Oral care. Results: Several studies have found improvements that are beginning to emerge to develop the oral care of the elderly. These improvements can be achieved by a convenient oral care training that is designed for the elderly. The training programs for the care staff working with the elderly positively affects their attitudes, routines and documentation of the patient’s information, which benefits the elderly oral health. Conclusion:To achieve good oral care for the elderly, several improvements are needed to be done by the governments involving nursing and working staff´s routines. A little different has been done, but there is significant work still to be done to improve the elderly dental health.