Oral health students make a difference

High percentages of residents living in aged care facilities are dependent on the care of staff for their oral health. Many aged care staff lack understanding of oral related diseases and conditions with most concerns going unrecognised.

Our Bachelor of Oral Health students recently conducted several tailored oral health promotion programs within aged care centres at Dubbo, Broken Hill, Forbes, Mudgee, Newcastle, Tamworth, Lithgow, Jindabyne, and Long Bay Correctional Centre. These programs include four common oral health topics: 

1. Tooth brushing 
2. Denture cleaning 
3. Detection of oral lesions 
4. Links between oral health and general health. 

Pre and post questionnaires were used to evaluate the process and impact of the programs, resulting in a positive increase in confidence and knowledge across all four key areas. These oral health promotion programs have been successful in achieving positive outcomes for these aged care communities and have been highly appraised by the staff involved.

	Annie Choi and Cindy Tran, OHP Program in Dubbo Winners of the Dentistry Faculty Research Day BOH Poster Award
	Andrew Somerville and Bianca Tesoriero, OHP Program Southern Cross Care Broken Hill Runners up of the Dentistry Faculty Research Day BOH Poster Award
	Andrew Somerville and Bianca Tesoriero, Checking out the sights of Broken Hill!
	Nafeena Feroz and Ban Al-attiyah, OHP Program Long Bay Correctional Centre Winners of the College of Oral Health Academics Poster Award 2017
	Nafeena Feroz and Ban Al-attiyah, OHP Program Long Bay Correctional Centre Winners of the CERA/COHS Older Person Conference poster competition
	Lawrence Loui and Numan Assad, OHP Program in Jemalong & Mater Aged Care facilities in Forbes
	Lawrence Loui and Numan Assad, With Oral Health staff in Forbes

Written by Cathryn Forsyth.