Working together to learn new oral hygiene techniques: Pilot of a carepartner-assisted intervention for persons with cognitive impairment.
Ruth A Anderson, Jing Wang, Brenda L Plassman and 7 others
PMID 30522909WHAT IT FOUND
People with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia and their carepartners described learning new oral hygiene as frustrating and unfamiliar.
They reported brushing together, writing goals on the mirror, and putting floss in sight.
Key findings
01Participants described challenges including unfamiliarity, frustration, believing their technique was already correct, and difficulty brushing for two minutes.
02Carepartners described challenges in learning new brushing methods and overcoming old ways of communicating.
03Dyads reported using collaborative strategies such as brushing together, writing goals on the bathroom mirror, and placing floss sticks in sight.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was small and qualitative, so it describes experiences rather than showing whether the intervention worked. It included only people with early stage cognitive impairment, so it says nothing about moderate or severe dementia. It was done with community-dwelling dyads, so the findings may not fit nursing homes or other care settings. The authors limited the control group and interviewed only intervention dyads, so usual-care experiences were not described. The paper did not report whether oral hygiene or oral health outcomes changed.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. The supplied text does not state author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the reported strategies as evidence that the intervention improved oral hygiene or reduced plaque. This was a qualitative pilot of experiences, and the paper did not report whether oral health outcomes changed.