RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Redesigning Oral Healthcare in Long-Term Care Facilities Many residents of long-term care facilities face significant challenges managing their oral health, which can affect both their physical and mental well-being. DR. BETHY TURTON, assistant professor of general dentistry, wants to change this. “There needs to be a rethinking of what's important for this group, what matters to them, and how that care is being delivered in these spaces,” Turton said.
approach. The hope is that the sum of these varied practical solutions will be a direct, measurable improvement in oral health, Turton said.
Turton is a co-principal investigator with Dr. Michelle Henshaw SPH 96 DPH 07, GSDM associate dean of global & population health, on a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research grant to examine the current state of oral health among older adults in long-term care facilities using systems thinking and participatory approaches.
“We hope to be able to support long-term care facilities to make institutional changes at multiple points within their system to adjust the way that oral health is supported,” Turton said.
Turton and Henshaw’s research has identified unrealistic expectations of oral hygiene routines, inconsistency in dental care processes, underutilization of oral health technologies, and a lack of oral health resources for long-term care facility staff. According to Turton, effectively addressing oral healthcare issues faced by long-term care facility residents requires transitioning from a “one-sizefits-all" intervention model to a multi-faceted
The goal is to improve oral health in this population, thus eliminating oral health as a contributing factor in other adverse experiences, such as dental extractions or aspiration pneumonia. Turton said the immediate next steps are to finalize and distribute an oral health toolkit for long-term care facilities that outlines different action steps. “Supporting oral health is complex and we must embrace the complexity if we are going to make a shift in the disease experience,” Turton said. “It’s unacceptable that people continue to suffer as a result of a preventable disease.”
35