Maintaining good oral health involves regularly brushing and cleaning your teeth and gums to keep your mouth free from disease, decay, and other issues - this is an essential part of personal care and hygiene and can help prevent tooth decay, gum disease, bad breath, and tooth loss.
Good oral health is crucial for maintaining overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life. Poor oral health can result in various oral diseases and conditions that can cause pain and discomfort and impact a person's ability to eat, speak, and smile.
Additionally, oral health problems are increasingly linked to a number of other serious health issues, such as dementia, heart disease, diabetes, malnutrition, and pneumonia. Individuals living in care homes are at even greater risk of oral health problems and related conditions due to high levels of dependency, effects of medication (some of the common over-the-counter medications can have an adverse impact on the teeth), co-existing medical conditions, reduced functional ability, physical disabilities, cognitive impairments, dementia, arthritis, etc.
Therefore, prioritising oral health care for those in care homes is crucial.
As a care home, it's essential to ensure that all residents receive the necessary dental care and that care home managers provide information about the dental care process to current and prospective residents and their families.
Many care homes have arrangements with local dentists or community dental services who can visit the care home to provide regular check-ups.
Upon moving into a care home, residents must undergo an oral health assessment, which is then recorded in their care plan. Care home managers must ask questions about the residents' dental health, such as whether they use any dental aids, have any dentures, and what level of support they require with their dental care.
Additionally, care home staff must have the necessary knowledge and skills to care for their residents' dental health. Care home staff must be trained to recognise when a resident needs to have their oral health reassessed and how to support them with their daily dental care routine.
For example, staff should know to brush the residents' teeth twice a day, clean their dentures (if they have any), and use their preferred dental care products, such as mouthwash or floss, to maintain oral health.
Our digital social care record system, mCare, has all the necessary features that a care provider needs.
mCare's Oral Health feature allows care professionals to record oral health assessments, update care plans tailored to people's needs, and capture highly detailed real-time recordings of oral care.
Carers can automatically retrieve this data for reports and charts, providing evidence of oral care support that meets the NICE Quality Standards and CQC's Key Lines of Enquiries.
An oral health assessment tool will highlight areas where residents need specific care and support. Using the tool for reassessments will indicate any changes that may need action.
The 'Smiling Matters' campaign was introduced to gain insight into how care homes were looking after their residents' oral care needs.
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On 20th March 2023, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released a report of findings following the 2019 'Smiling Matters' campaign for care homes.
A selection of care homes were audited on things such as whether the care home:
The 2023 report presents the findings of the changes made since 2019. Although there have been improvements in many areas, some areas still require more attention.
The report found that the following areas had been improved:
The report also showed that there are areas for improvement:
The 'Smiling Matters' campaign has had an impact on the care homes' awareness and handling of oral health care. However, more still needs to be done to ensure that people living in care homes are supported to maintain and improve their oral health.
Oral health is closely connected to your overall health and wellbeing, and unfortunately, it is often overlooked or given less importance than other health concerns.
Care providers must follow the NICE guideline (NG48), which covers oral health, including dental health and daily mouth care, for adults in care homes.
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