Individual research recommendation details

Recommendation ID

NG48/3

Question

Measuring improvements in care home residents' oral health:- How can interventions to improve and maintain oral health and wellbeing, or to prevent dental disease, be measured using a patient-centred approach that can also be used to judge cost effectiveness?

Any explanatory notes
(if applicable)

Why this is important:- Oral health research tends to use clinical dental indices (such as the plaque, gingival and denture plaque indices) to provide a measure of statistical relevance. This approach often fails to recognise the difference between what clinicians value in research and what residents or care staff may value more generally. In addition, clinical dental indices cannot be used as the basis of a cost–utility analysis.
A range of person-centred measures and study designs are needed that can also be used to determine cost effectiveness. These measures would capture the views of all residents living in care homes and could include:

- how much they value having a clean, pain-free, healthy mouth

- how poor oral health may affect their self-esteem and general quality of life

-  whether or not their dignity and individuality is respected and understood in relation to having a clean, pain-free, healthy mouth (especially in regard to dentures).

Source guidance details

Comes from guidance

Oral health for adults in care homes

Number

NG48

Date issued

July 2016

Other details