Good dental hygiene and oral care habits are important at any age, but as we get older this becomes more important when it comes to your oral health. As we get older, certain oral conditions not present when you were younger might develop. That’s why dental care for older adults is so important. Many of these elder dental problems are easily identified, solved, or even prevented when you know what to look for.

Oral hygiene is covered in training we wanted to bringing an increased awareness of the importance of good mouth care and how it impacts on general health and quality of life. On Thursday 13th February we had a visit by Cherma St Clair Nurse Practitioner and educator who completed training sessions on the importance of Oral Hygiene. Health Education England launched ‘Mouth Care Matters’ in 2015 to improve oral health of adults in care homes and hospitals and is now looking at how we can assist with peoples being cared for in their own home.

We started the morning session with facts on the structure of the mouth and how poor oral health effects individuals wellbeing using risk assessment tool to identify any oral hygiene needs. After looking at the correct way to clean the mouth and given the instructions on how to give oral care we were given the opportunity provide oral hygiene on each other. At first the group was a little hesitant but after a few attempts laughter could be heard as some of the participants began to act as service users to put obstacles in the way.

Learning how to brush somebody else’s teeth, was very usual and not something you think about doing. you have to take into account how hard you are brushing and if that is ok for the other person.

Training like this allows Axela Care staff raise awareness on the effects of peoples health and the relationship with poor Oral Hygiene.