Hospital inpatients ‘experience oral health deterioration’

A new study has highlighted the fact that patients' oral health may be getting neglected during hospital stays.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, the study examined the oral health of 162 patients on arrival at hospital and two weeks later, discovering an increase in gum disease and levels of plaque.

It was also revealed that the hospitals in question had no policies in place for routine oral health care, with no members of the hospital teams assessing patients' oral health conditions during their hospitalisation.

Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF), said: "In a challenging hospital environment it may be inevitable that oral care is seen as a low priority, but it is clear that more needs to be done."

He noted that although there are guidelines for the provision of oral care in hospital settings, carers are provided with limited details in general, meaning this is not treated as a high-priority issue.

These are among the issues highlighted by the recent Campaign for Better Hospital Food initiative, which was supported publicly by the BDHF.