Flexible Fitness: Importance of improving oral health care

Did you know that simply improving your oral health can significantly increase your life span? Poor mouth care may result in the accumulation of plaque (a sticky layer of bacteria), xerostomia (dry mouth), halitosis (bad breath), tooth decay and loss, fungal infection, ulcers and many other undesired conditions. And if you are older than 65 or have been diagnosed with a neurological condition, keeping a clean mouth may be even more important to your overall health because of an increased risk of developing aspiration pneumonia. “Aspiration pneumonia” is a lung infection that develops after you aspirate (or inhale) saliva, food, liquid, medications, or vomit into your lungs. Aspiration, or breathing foreign substances into your airway, will often make you cough as a protective response and many people report that something “went down the wrong pipe.” The pneumonia vaccine will not prevent against aspiration pneumonia because aspiration pneumonia is not caused by contagious bacteria, but rather food or saliva entering your lungs leading to an infection.

National trends in the admission for aspiration pneumonia in the U.S. from 2002-12 report that approximately 80% of patients admitted to the hospital for aspiration pneumonia were aged 65 or older. This statistic indicates that older adults are at a disproportionate risk of developing aspiration pneumonia. Fortunately, the overall hospital death rate from aspiration pneumonia decreased from 21% to 11% during this 10-year period. While this decrease in death rate is promising, it is still important to note aspiration pneumonia can be fatal in the older population.

The good news is that researchers in Japan discovered a relationship between oral health care and death rate due to aspiration pneumonia. They studied hundreds of patients (in nursing homes) and found that effective mouth care can decrease death rate due to aspiration pneumonia by almost half. Half! Many other researchers have corroborated that poor oral care is a significant factor in developing aspiration pneumonia.

Why would oral health care change your life span? A simple way to explain this is that if your mouth has less bacteria in it because you practice good oral care and clean your mouth than any food or saliva that may aspirate from your mouth to your lungs will also carry less bacteria, resulting in a decreased risk of developing an infection in your lungs. On the other hand, if your mouth is a bacteria-magnet because you are less vigilant with mouth care, then food or saliva that may aspirate from your mouth to your lungs will also carry that bacteria into your lungs and increase the risk of developing an aspiration pneumonia. The purpose of this article is to inform you that something so simple, cost-efficient and time-efficient as cleaning your mouth can significantly decrease your risk of developing a potentially fatal aspiration pneumonia.

So, what does good mouth care involve? First, you should clean your mouth after every meal because the residue left in the mouth after meals can promote bacteria growth. Too many times the focus of mouth care is only on the teeth. While all surfaces of the teeth should be cleaned, mouth care also involves the oral membrane, the gum line and...the tongue. The tongue has papillae, which are the grooves, cracks and crevices on the surface of the tongue where bacteria accumulate if the tongue is not cleaned. Any bacteria left on the tongue will end up back on your teeth and gums so it is important to clean your tongue. You can discuss with your oral hygienist or dentist what oral care regimen is best for your mouth needs. And finally, if you wear dentures, denture-wearing during sleep can double the risk of developing aspiration pneumonia, so be sure to remove dentures from your mouth daily and clean them daily.

Louise Kimura, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is a board-certified clinical specialist in speech language pathology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in Framingham. She is a certified dementia practitioner and is certified in Lee Silverman Voice Therapy. She completed a five-year Ph.D. in neurolinguistics. She specializes in the treatment of swallowing, language, cognitive, voice and motor speech disorders.