Thursday 26 January 2017

The Connection Between Oral Care And Aspiration Pneumonia

Posted by Unknown at 14:04
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.

According to studies, improving a proper dental hygiene could reduce the risk of having this illness among elderly people and even reduce the rate of death. By providing a good oral every day, you are giving the elders a lower chance of getting a respiratory disease. Basically, there is a huge connection 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.

This is not true. Of course, dentures need to be cleaned depending on the suggestions of a dentist. Furthermore, the mouth also needs to be cleaned properly, especially for elderly patients. Those who live in nursing homes may have poor dental health than those living in their homes independently.

Brushing your teeth may seem so simple but later on, you will find that you are brushing in a wrong way. But brushing the teeth of others is another thing. It is always necessary for the caregivers to be well trained in helping elders with their everyday dental tasks. Basically, enhancing dental care could decrease the risks of pneumonia and death while enhancing the quality of life and minimizing healthcare costs.

Basically, there are foods that may increase the risk of aspiration. It means liquid or food goes into the lungs instead of your stomach. Citrus fruit and other juicy fruits including watermelon should be avoided. Once the patient has swallowing problems, this may cause pneumonia. Frequent throat clearing, chest infections, hoarse voice are only some of the many signs of such problem.

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.

If you adhere the precautions, there are still chances that anyone will experience such problem. Hence, it is always crucial to know and understand what it feels to suffer from such condition and make things more manageable. Some people may develop this condition, therefore, they need extra care while adhering the steps.




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