Abstract
BackgroundResidents in long-term care (LTC) institutions require care plans to effectively resolve dry mouth. Simple and easily comprehensible dry mouth indices must be developed to assist care professionals in determining dry mouth among residents. Therefore, this study aim of the study was to evaluate five different diagnostic tests for dry mouth assessment.MethodsA total of 568 residents were recruited from several LTC institutions in central Taiwan. The research instruments and tools comprised of the characteristics of the residents, state of oral health care, self-perceived ability to chew food, Taiwanese short-form of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-7 T), self-perceived levels of dry mouth, oral moisture checking, and a repetitive saliva swallowing test (RSST). The data collected were analyzed through demographic analysis, Correlation coefficient and chi-squared automatic interaction detection.ResultsResults of the decision tree analysis indicated that RSST results, tooth brushing frequency, and age were the three indices that exerted the greatest influence on oral moisture levels. Specifically, in residents with relatively high RSST results, a daily tooth brushing frequency > 1, and an age < 68 years exhibited more favorable oral moisture levels. The results indicated that residents’ self-perceived oral status was not associated with their oral moisture levels.ConclusionThe three indices can be provided to LTC institutions for on-site assessment of dry mouth among residents to facilitate early detection of those with dry mouth.
Highlights
Residents in long-term care (LTC) institutions require care plans to effectively resolve dry mouth
We explained our research to 27 appropriated registered LTC institutions in central Taiwan, fifteen of which are recruited in this study intern recruited their residents as research participants
We found that the oral moisture level of residents with repetitive saliva swallowing test (RSST) results ≥3 and age ≤ 68 years were at approximately normal levels; those of residents age > 68 years were borderline
Summary
Residents in long-term care (LTC) institutions require care plans to effectively resolve dry mouth. Studies have suggested that older adults who received nonpharmacological interventions, such as participation in an oral function training program (e.g., massage on salivary gland and face, and tongue muscle training), showed improvement in dry mouth and overall oral status [2, 17, 18]. This demonstrated that older adults’ regular participation in oral function training programs is a crucial preventative measure that ensures good oral health. Improving the ability of caregivers in long-term care institutions to evaluate dry mouth
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