Introduction
Patient X is in a long-term care facility and she is diagnosed of Dementia, Anaemia, Glaucoma, Congestive Heart Failure, and Benign Hypertension. She is oriented times one, only to person. Her current MMSE score is 20 out of 30. According to the article, “The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)”, “The MMSE is effective as a screening tool for cognitive impairment with older. A score of 23 or lower is indicative of cognitive impairment.” She requires one-person assistance with hygiene care including bathing, toileting, changing briefs and oral care. It is important to maintain a good oral hygiene in order to prevent gum disease and cavities from forming. She was assessed for the oral hygiene because she is unable to meet
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According to Health Canada (2008), “Untreated gum disease can lead to the loss of teeth and an increased risk of more serious diseases, such as respiratory disease.” So it is important to take care of our teeth, gums and tongue to prevent other serious infections and diseases from developing. A person’s self-esteem will be affected if he or she doesn’t have healthy teeth because it will cause confident level to drop and the person becomes more self-conscious about it in front of others. A person with poor oral hygiene will have bad breath due to not scrapping his or her tongue, it will decrease social interaction with others because other people will walk away or they will stop talking.
My personal practices to maintain good oral health are by brushing my teeth twice a day in circular motion, scraping my tongue, rinsing mouth with antimicrobial mouthwash and flossing in between the gums. I have quit drinking sodas to lessen cavities formation because it has high sugar content. When drinking cold beverages, I use straw to protect my teeth from staining. My current oral health status is good because of my personal practices; my gums don’t bleed when I floss and brush my teeth, my tongue is pink and moist and my breath doesn’t smell bad. My beliefs and practices influence the care I provide for the client because I practice the same techniques on the client as much as possible, for example:
My assigned role was dental hygienist as an educator. As clinical dental hygienist, educating my patients to perform proper oral home care, explaining disease processes that effecting them, and recommend appropriate oral health care products just as important as providing hygiene treatments. Individual homecare instructions depend on many factor such as age of patient, physical and mental ability, number of visits they had with me, and the results of oral exam. As part of my routine, I assess the changes that patient had made since their last visit. Most of them give me an honest report. However, when it is inconsistent with what I am seeing at the oral exam (evidence of calculus, plaque, food impaction, no improvement in inflammation), I begin
The patient was keen to get her oral hygiene up to a good standard and prevent any
The dental hygienist is expected to respect the diverse values, beliefs, and cultures present in individuals and communities. When providing dental hygiene care, dental hygienists must support the right of the individual to have access to the necessary information and provide opportunities for dialogue to allow the individual patient to make informed care decisions without coercion (ADHA Policy Manual, 2016.) It is important for the oral health care provider to focus on the needs of the patient versus their own needs or those of the practice. It is also important that every patient be treated with the upmost respect regardless of race, color, age, gender, ethnicity, social class, disability or oral conditions. The patient must also be respectful towards the provider and dental team and what they are doing to improve the patient’s oral health. This balance allows the patient and provider to both be
tement My passion for to study Dental Hygiene and Therapy has developed over the past few years, where I trained as a dental nurse and supported the dental professionals, which piqued my interest in dentistry and the education around it. I am conscious of the importance of the hygienist’s role in maintaining patient’s dental health and ensuring that that the oral conditions are attended too. The hygienists job is mainly to prevent disease though advice, therapy and treatment; professionals and patients can usually see the immediate difference after a few visits and from this treatment, patient’s wellbeing and health can also be improved from the actions of a hygienist.
Although there have been oral health care models, as well as, best practice concepts for oral health, there is still a host of barriers that prevent this problem from being minimalized. Factors including negative behaviors from both the staff and residents, dexterity, mobility, as well as a lack of dental supplies, often leave the residents or the health care personnel frustrated. Some of the factors that prevent dentists from caring for these residents is a lack of mobile equipment, lack of space, time away from their private practice, and low reimbursement rates (Dirks, 2016). The director of nursing, along with the administrator, must collaborate with dental personnel to change the culture and instill a higher value on oral health. On-site training and education must be included in oral care, along with infection control regulations. Most residents are not able to coordinate their own care and often rely on personnel at the facility for assistance. There needs to be a collaboration between dental personnel, facility staff, and the residents, to cultivate oral care as an integral part of health and wellness for each resident (Chaves,
In Dr. Parson’s presentation, I learned that there are still many seniors with out dental insurance. This is sad because the population by 2030 is going to double and more will eventually need treatment done by a dentist. According to her presentation oral care is not a concern to the nursing home staff. Some families show up to brush their family members teeth. With the limited financial resources for dental care these patients have it is one of their barriers to getting treatment done if needed or even cleaning. Therefore, we as dental hygienist can help make a difference by going out to the community and offering dental care education to the nursing staff because they must first know how to take care of their oral health before taking care
There is only a small amount of literature providing quality evidence based on the use of a successful oral health assessment tool for people with dementia (JBI, 2004). There is no published evidence to this date that has directly linked the use of the assessment tool and the standard of oral hygiene and care given within residential aged care facilities (JBI, 2004). For successful assessment of the residents with dementia the assessment should be undertaken by trained staff and on admission the assessment should also involve a dentist (JBI, 2004). Assessment should be done on a regular basis, at least every 8 weeks (JBI, 2004).
4. Develop a written dental hygiene care plan that establishes a framework within which to identify goals for obtaining oral health. In addition to the clinical assessment, your plan should take into account the patient’s age, gender, lifestyle, culture, attitudes, health beliefs, and knowledge level. Your instructor may provide guidelines, or you may use the suggested list of possible unmet needs, called deficits, found in the Human Needs Conceptual Model to Dental Hygiene Practice (see Chapter 1). Identification of deficits will guide you in generating a treatment plan that gives the patient an active role in assisting with improving and maintaining health. Use this
Administration of this clinical skill involved undertaking an assessment of my colleague’s mouth before delivering any care in order to help determine the most appropriate means of delivering oral care. Malkin (2009) asserts that this is a critical component of the procedure and was one I was keen not to overlook. The World Health Organisation (WHO 2010) describes a healthy mouth as being free of chronic mouth and facial pain and in the situation described; this is the condition I found my partner’s mouth to be in. I was therefore happy to proceed with cleaning his teeth as instructed. I selected to use a soft bristled toothbrush and toothpaste. The use of these adjuncts are described by many writers as being the most appropriate in terms of removing plaque and preventing trauma to the gums (Holman et al 2005,McCauliffe 2007).Despite this it has been identified that they are also most
If you haven’t figured out enough reasons to take good care of your mouth, teeth and gums, the relationship between your oral health and your overall health provides even more, because choosing to practice a good oral hygiene equates to making an investment in your overall
Because children are influenced by the family tradition and learn from their parents, it is important for parents to make sure that they are teaching proper oral care habits at a young age. The habits that children should learn at a young age are; keeping up with home dental care, receiving the dental care that people should, needing dental care but being enforced to go, brushing teeth as well as they should, being taught on how to control snacking between meals as well as they should, and being taught that dental care is indeed important. " Poor oral health has an impact upon children's health in general and dental caries can lead to a lack of appetite, problems with chewing, problems with sleeping and a decrease in school performance" (Abanto et al, 2011). Proper health education is somewhat
Dental Hygienists have an enormous amount of problems with their patients, one problem being that their patients have diabetes. Patients don 't realize that if they have diabetes they are more susceptible to getting serious gum disease. Studies have shown that 90-95% of patients have Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0082158). The goal of this problem is for patients to not accrue the disease of diabetes by taking care of their oral hygiene. The relevance of this topic is for patients to know the importance of their oral hygiene and what can happen to their health. Hygienists can approach this problem by explaining the complications, for instance xerostomia, thrush, burning
As a nurse in a skilled nursing facility, oral hygiene care is very important, but the importance significantly increases when our patients are functionally dependent or cognitively impaired. These patients are unable to perform this task and depend on nurses to provide daily care. Nurses need to pay close attention for potential problems. They will need to perform assessments, develop oral care plans, and identify preventions and strategies to eliminate any potential problems. Poor oral health has been linked to serious systemic illnesses including diabetes mellitus, stroke, hypertension, myocardial infarction and aspiration pneumonia (Dyck et al., 2012). Patients who suffer from a lack of oral care can have a dramatic impact to their
Dental health is one of the most important matters in our lives. Without proper dental tonicity, people can obtain dental problems, which can be as severe as death. In order to maintain proper dental care go to your dentist every six months. It is also important to change your toothbrush regularly, floss, use fluoride, and eat healthy foods. Healthy foods may consist of fruits, vegetables, breads, meats, and drinking water is crucial to your dental health by maintaining a moisturized mouth. A moisturized mouth protects our hard and soft oral tissues. Children and adults should know the benefits of maintaining proper oral hygiene while preventing poor oral asepticism.. Not only does good oral hygiene affects our mouth it also affects our overall health.
Have you ever thought about what could happen if you don't practice good oral hygiene? Have you ever thought about the fact that cavities can lead to even more serious dental problems? Do you know that if you aren't practicing good oral hygiene, you're opening the door to dental problems that isn't easy to close? If you don't take care of your teeth,think about how much harder easy life tasks would be for you. It is not that hard to simply brush your teeth twice a day and floss them once. The effects of not having good oral hygiene are cavities, gingivitis, and periodontal disease.