Home-Visit Dental Treatment in a Special Nursing Home for the Elderly

• Published in: The Journal of Showa University Dental Society Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 252 - 258
• Main Authors: HATORI, Mutsumi, NAGUMO, Masao, SATO, Mayako, KAKUTA, Saburo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Showa University Dental Society 30.06.2000; 昭和大学・昭和歯学会
• Subjects: dependent elderly; home-visit dental treatment; oral health care; special nursing home for the elderly
• ISSN: 0285-922X; 2186-5396
• DOI: 10.11516/dentalmedres1981.20.252

We carried out a survey for residents to learn the oral health condition of dependent elderly in a special nursing home opened at Ohta-ku, Tokyo, in 1998. Since then, we have conducted a home-visit dental treatment at the request of the nursing home. The summary is as follows. 1. Twenty-seven residents, about a third of all residents, received dental treatment. They were a slightly younger group than the average resident. 2. All subjects had basic diseases. Circulatory diseases were more frequent, and degenerative brain diseases were found at a lower frequency in the subjects when compared with all residents. 3. Most common reasons for the treatment were related to dentures. Two cases that complained of ill-fitting dentures were treated more than 20 time because they were too difficult to treat in the nursing home. 4. The contents of our home-visit dental treatment mainly consisted of the adjustment and repair of dentures, medication, and oral hygiene instruction. Some cases, in which it was necessary to monitor vital signs or to make new dentures, were treated in our dental hospital because of the difficulty of managing or treating : them in the nursing home.