Recent research strongly suggests that hospitalized patients run the risk of jeopardizing their oral health. The result can be a higher risk of acquiring an infection that could have serious consequences. At the very least neglecting oral health care in the hospital can affect quality of life.
Researchers studied patients in hospitals in four countries over a 10 year period. Although the study found increased plaque accumulation and inflammation of oral tissues in most parents, those patients who suffered from respiratory illness or otherwise required help breathing had the highest incidence of oral-health decline.
When pathogens lurk in your mouth, you inhale them right into your lungs, where they can wreak all kinds of havoc. One major review pointed to this process as the reason for an association between poor oral hygiene and hospital-acquired pneumonia. Improving oral hygiene — through some methods beyond brushing and flossing in this case — reduced the incidence of such pneumonia by 40%. Another study of 315 patients in a Brazilian hospital found that those with periodontitis were almost three times as likely to have pneumonia.
It’s easy to see how oral care might not receive top priority when a patient is undergoing treatment for a serious illness; however, ignoring oral hygiene is not a good idea. Patients and their friends and family should remember to consider oral health and remind medical staff of its importance in overall outcomes.
