[Impact of oral health promotion project on periodontal condition and life quality of the elderly in long-term care institutions].

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of oral health promotion project on periodontal condition and life quality of the elderly in long-term care institutions. METHODS: Elder people from 5 nursing homes in Wuhan city were selected and assigned to either the experimental group or the control group by random cluster grouping method. A six-month oral health promotion project was provided to the experimental group. The changes of geriatric oral health assessment index (GOHAI), oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-S), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP) and probing depth (PD) were compared with student's t test and repetitive measure analysis of variance using SPSS21.0 software package. RESULTS: A total of 322 subjects completed the study for 6 months, with 144 from the experimental group and 178 from the control group. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in social demographic characteristics, GOHAI scores, OHI-S, GI, BOP and PD at baseline(P>0.05). Greater improvements were observed in GOHAI scores, OHI-S, GI and BOP in the experimental group than the control group after interventions (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Oral health promotion project can improve the elderly's oral health-related quality of life and periodontal condition.

[Impact of comprehensive health education on oral care knowledge, attitude and practice in the elderly in long-term care institutions].

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of comprehensive health education on oral care knowledge, attitude and practice(KAP) of the elderly in the long-term care institutions and to provide references for oral health education among the elder people. METHODS: Elder people from 2 nursing centers in Wuhan were selected. The follow-up period was 6 months. Questionnaires were used to collect social-demographic characteristics and oral care KAP data at baseline, the third month and the sixth month, respectively. Comprehensive health education, toothpaste and toothbrushes were provided at baseline and the third month. The changes of oral care KAP were observed before and after interventions. SPSS21.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 144 subjects with a mean age of (72.43±9.41) years completed the study after 6 months. At baseline, the KAP scores were (28.57±19.19), (70.66±21.99) and (39.86±24.18), respectively. At the sixth month, the KAP scores were (91.06±9.55), (95.31±10.23) and (90.00±13.38), respectively and significant improvements were observed (F=913.714, P＜0.001; F=114.042, P＜0.001; F=349.887, P＜0.001). Oral care knowledge and attitude, knowledge and practice, attitude and practice were positively correlated（ß=0.173, P=0.038; ß=0.269, P=0.001; ß=0.197, P=0.018）. Social-demographic characteristics had no significant effect on KAP scores (P＞0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term care institutions should strengthen oral health education and improve oral care KAP, oral health status and oral health-related quality of life of the elder people.