The Connection Between Oral Care And Aspiration Pneumonia

By Sarah Murphy


Aspiration pneumonia is a recurrent beast. When elderly people get such illness, it weakens their body which is a huge impact on their overall medical condition and would increase the risk for additional aspiration. As you can see, pneumonia increases the chances of getting hospitalized, increase healthcare expenses, decrease the quality of life, and increases the possibility of death.

Recent research shows that boosting oral hygiene will minimize the risks of developing this illness among elderly individuals and minimize the chances of death. With proper oral care, it means giving elders a minimal chance of having respiratory distress. This information alone can determine the link between oral care and aspiration pneumonia.

With regular dental care, elderly patients are found to enhance swallowing functions by boosting their salivary secretions while reducing the latency time for swallowing. Both of these outcomes can improve the safety of eating. In addition, proper oral hygiene is also helpful for elders with false or without teeth. Once misconception is that if individuals do not have teeth or have dentures, they no longer need proper hygiene routines.

But this is not true since dentures also need proper maintenance and must be cleaned according to the recommendations of their specialists. Moreover, tongue and mouth both need to be cleaned with the right tool. This is specifically crucial for elderly patients.

Brushing your own teeth may seem easy enough, but you will find later on that you are brushing your teeth in wrong ways. But brushing someone else is another story. It is important that a caregiver is trained in assisting elders with their dental tasks. As you see, improving dental care may decrease the risk of pneumonia, the risk of hospitalization and death while improving their life quality and reducing healthcare expenses.

Aside from that, there are foods that could possibly increase the possibility of aspiration. This means any food or liquid may go directly to the lungs instead of the stomach. Oranges and other citrus fruits must be avoided. If a patient has a swallowing problem, it may lead to pneumonia. Chest infections, throat clearing, and hoarse voice are the signs of this condition.

Make sure to keep a lot of measures in mind to prevent the aspirating depending on the food you eat which easily run into the lungs. Usually, these measures can help individuals with diminished swallowing reflexes. If you do not take these crucial steps, it might cause serious problems to the lungs and later on result in several complications.

If you have elderly loved ones who suffer from this condition, make sure to take the precautions to avoid taking foods into their lungs. Talk to their specialists and get written instructions about the assistance required for them, recognition of aspiration symptoms, and correct position for eating.

Even if you follow each precaution, there is still a possibility that eating foods will enter the lungs. Hence, it is vital to know and understand the feeling or signs of being aspirated and make things more manageable. There are people who are prone to developing this condition, thus, they need proper care while following the steps to prevent such illness.




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