Effects of Oral Exercise Towards Salivary Flow Rate In Elderly: An Interventional Study

Abstract

Elderly population is increasing globally. The percentage of elderly people in Indonesia reached 9.60 percent. The Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) has the highest number of elderly people, which is 14.02. One of the oral health problems of elderly is dry mouth. Saliva is an important aspect needed to maintain oral health. Reduced saliva can cause various diseases. Simple and effective interventions are needed to improve salivary conditions in the elderly, namely oral health promotion by doing oral exercises which considered to maintain and improve oral function which is an important factor of quality of life. This research to determine the effect of a health promotion program with an intervention of oral exercise on salivary flow rate in the elderly at nine PKU Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah clinics with audiovisual media accompanied by leaflet media. This study was conducted at PKU Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah Pratama clinics in Yogyakarta. There are Berbah, Pakem, Firdaus, Cangkringan, Moyudan, Srandakan, Bambanglipuro, Wates and Sewugalur with 198 prolanis participants with total sampling. The research design is a quasi experimental nonequivalent control group design, with an intervention group and a control group, both groups are given before and after the intervention, , using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann Whitney U test analysis. Oral exercise intervention with audiovisual media and leaflet can increase salivary flow rates in the elderly