Dental News - Research to improve oral health of dementia patients awarded $3.47 million

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 16. October 2018

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NEW YORK, U.S.: The effects of dementia on a person’s oral health can be severe, with research showing that even individuals with mild dementia are at risk. Recently, the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing was awarded $3.47 million in funding to improve the oral hygiene of people with mild dementia. The grant will be used to implement and study a unique oral health intervention program that will also involve family caregivers in New York and North Carolina.

The funding was provided by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and National Institute on Aging, both of which are part of the National Institutes of Health, and will be used over a five-year period. In that time, researchers will conduct a randomized controlled trial in New York City and North Carolina and test an oral health intervention program. In addition to measuring whether the program improves oral hygiene, the researchers will look at communication between people with dementia and their caregivers to assess their oral health knowledge and confidence to improve the oral health of the people they care for.

Leading the research is Dr. Bei Wu, Dean’s Professor in Global Health at NYU Meyers and Co-Director of the NYU Aging Incubator, with support from co-principal investigators Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke Health Brenda Plassman and Associate Dean for Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Ruth Anderson.

According to the researchers, the basic principle of the program is to help caregivers identify any challenges a person with dementia may have with oral care, find ways in which to solve them and improve the patient’s overall ability to engage in an effective oral care process. “To our knowledge, this is the first oral health intervention to be conducted among community-dwelling people with mild dementia, and the results of our pilot study suggest that a caregiver-assisted intervention can improve oral health outcomes,” said Wu.

According to NYU Meyers, a number of studies conducted in nursing homes have shown that, with good oral hygiene, the oral health of people with dementia improves notably in a short period. However, people with mild dementia often live at home and are cared for by family members who supervise and help with daily activities, but can often forget oral hygiene. Therefore, Wu and her team believe an intervention program that incorporates both people with mild dementia and their caregivers to improve oral self-care could have long-term oral health benefits.

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