Effectiveness of oral care for people with dementia

Abstract

Background: Oral care for people with dementia becomes difficult as dementia progresses. Good oral hygiene practice needs to be established in the early stage of dementia. Although many oral care products are available, evidence for oral care has not been established. Objective: The primary objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and to compare their effectiveness in improving oral hygiene in people with dementia. Methods: This review considered studies that evaluated the effectiveness of all types of oral care, including therapies to improve poor oral hygiene and denture care, and preventive oral care in dementia patients. Study designs include any randomized controlled trials (RCTs). If RCTs are not available, non-RCTs before and after studies will be included. A three-step search strategy is utilized in this review to find published and unpublished studies. An initial limited search of MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE was undertaken, followed by analysis of the text contained from titles and abstracts and from the index terms used to describe articles. A second search using all identified keywords and index terms was undertaken across all included databases. Third, the reference lists from all identified articles will be searched for additional studies. Studies published in English and Japanese will be included in this review. Studies selected will be assessed by two reviewers independently. The data extracted will include specific details about the types of interventions. Quantitative data will be pooled in statistical meta-analysis. If meta-analysis is not possible, data will be synthesized in narrative form. Results: The initial search identified sixty studies. Of those, eight studies were retained in the second search strategies. One RCT, one non-RCTs and six before and after studies were included. Discussion: Index terms and keywords used in the search strategies were appropriate according to comparison of the studies included with the selection criteria. Conclusion: Further searches will be conducted.