Inadequate oral hygiene practices can contribute to or result in severe localized and systemic illnesses, significantly altering the health status and well-being of older adults. Care providers must recognize symptoms, conditions, and their potential consequences and elevate routine oral hygiene care to oral infection control programs. This session from the 2017 online conference “Dysphagia in Older Adults” identifies possible oral hygiene complications—from oral pain to pneumonia—and discusses how to recognize and assess them. Speaker John Ashford also addresses the importance of standardized intervention.

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• utilize a standardized oral health screening tool as part of the bedside clinical dysphagia assessment to determine the oral health status of patients, and use the results to determine the proper course of intervention
• incorporate oral health findings as an important clinical factor in making decisions regarding the safety of oral feeding and its potential for contributing to possible development of pneumonia from aspiration

What is Included?

You'll get online access to all the course content, including the full video, handouts, and references so you can access it from anywhere!

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

Related Courses
View all courses from the “Dysphagia in Older Adults” online conference, available through the ASHA Learning Pass subscription or as an a la carte purchase.