EFFECTIVENESS OF ORAL HYGIENE PRACTICE GUIDELINES ON ORAL HEALTH STATUS AMONG THAI ELDERLY RESIDING IN SOCIAL CARE FACILITIES

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate effectiveness of the oral hygiene practice guidelines among Thai elderly residing in social care facilities. This experimental study was conducted in two elderly social care facilities from December 2013 to June 2014. The 33 and 38 participants were recruited from social care 1 and social care 2, respectively. Socio-demographic characteristics and oral health behavior were obtained via questionnaire. Oral health status and oral hygiene status were obtained via oral examination. After one week, the oral hygiene practice guidelines including an individual oral self-care and diet counseling, oral hygiene instruction, oral self-care demonstration and self-practice session were applied. The outcomes were measured at baseline (T0), 2 months (T1) and 6 months follow up (T2). At 2 months and 6 months follow up, oral health behavior in both social care 1 and social care 2 showed the overall scores improvement with significant differences in dental prostheses cleaning and sugar consumption frequency compared to baseline. Furthermore, oral hygiene status in both social care 1 and social care 2 showed the average debris index simplified (DI-S) score and the percentage of dental plaque acid production score were significant decreasing compared to baseline. In conclusion, the oral hygiene practice guidelines had effectiveness to improve oral health behavior and oral hygiene status among Thai elderly residing in social care facilities.