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Oral Care and the Elderly

Tennessee State University Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

Michelle Skelley

SA Swallowing Services
Nashville, TN

The purpose of this report is to review the normal environment of the oropharyngeal cavity, examine its potential role in the development of pneumonia, and examine the beneficial effects of oral care in the prevention of pneumonia among the sick and elderly. The oropharynx is a very diverse environment of structures, functions, and ecology. Normal bacterial florae existing in this environment are limited in their efforts to colonize in the moist oral tissues by immune properties present in saliva and mucous. Lack of oral maintenance or the occurrence of a severe illness may provide an opportunity for these pathogens to colonize and multiply. Aspiration of certain oral pathogens into the lower respiratory tract has been associated with the development of pneumonia leading to illness complications and death in some elderly or sick persons. Oral care using brushes and oral rinses have been shown to significantly reduce pneumonia development and fever in the sick and elderly populations. An important new role of speech-language pathologists is to assert themselves as practitioners and advocates of better oral health with these populations.