OHI Card Program
Contributing Problems
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23% of 65–74-year-old have severe periodontal disease. The risk edges higher as patients grow older, particularly those with poorly controlled plaque. (1)
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Daily oral hygiene decreases the risk of oral bacteria causing aspiration of pneumonia in hospitalized patients. Imagine knowing a patient’s oral condition prior to deciding to put on a ventilator in cases like COVID-19 virus. (2)
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Upon retirement seniors often lose their dental insurance. Only 2% of retirees retain dental coverage and many seniors incur high out-of-pocket dental expenses (5).
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It is financially difficult for patients to afford tools or refills needed to maintain a healthy mouth and lack of appropriate supplies is another barrier for the elderly living in NH. (4)
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Despite oral health being a modifiable risk factor for many adverse health outcomes in older adults, nursing home staff lack awareness of the health benefits of good oral hygiene. (6)
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Good dental health care daily can alleviate the many dollars spent on dental emergencies.
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Research says mouth care speeches is not enough, the training has to be a hands-on demonstration of strategies and tools, improving self-efficacy and facilitative behavior is what has been effective. (3)
Solution
What we do?
We partner with long term facilities (nursing homes, assisted living, memory impaired) and first find out how they would like to see oral health incorporated into their business. We then gear our services to align with your business needs.
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How we do it?
We understand that providing an OCS and training is not enough, there are other factors that lead to poor oral health amongst elderly living in LTCF. Therefore, we further developed the program by adding components to meet their needs.
Our Home Office staff goes to work setting up your EVENT DAY which includes rotation through your facility providing oral care screenings for each resident and training the staff to follow the OHI Card and provide effective daily oral care. In some instances, we partner with a local dental assistant/hygiene program and have students do the rotation and perform OCS on residents. Once students have been trained in the OHI Card Program they will gain more experience delivering personalized oral hygiene instructions and are ready to implement care immediately after graduation.
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Program components
Share Program: Connect with the community and educate the elderly about oral health.
G-to-S Connect Academy: Connect Geriatrics with Students to meet the oral health needs of elderly living in nursing homes and administer Oral Care Screenings and personalize their OHI Card.
Research Committee: Compile data using the Briers Facility Scoring System.
Dental Referrals Program: Connect local Dentist with residents who need treatment.
SDF Program: Sodium Diamine Fluoride; kills decay on contact and gets patients out of pain!
GFS Program: Geriatric Free Stuff for our seniors, they are already strapped for cash, and we get them FREE refills and dental aids to keep a healthy smile.
Interprofessional Training: The OHI Card Program Training that offers interprofessional training focusing on daily oral care of residents living in nursing homes where oral health is problematic.
Our training programs sets us above the rest.
Why we do it?
LTCF have had the problem of poor oral health amongst this population for decades. Oral health is a very important part of overall health and oral disease prevention requires daily intervention and when done effectively a healthy mouth is attainable.