Can oral health training for nursing home staff improve residents' mouth health and staff

With the ageing of the French population, the number of elderly people loosing their autonomy is increasing, leading to a growing need for care in residential establishments for dependent elderly people . For multiple reasons, the oral and dental health of the elderly is often when they're admitted to a nursing home (financiary issues, loss of mobility, cognitive impairement, etc.). It can continue to deteriorate after admission du to communication difficulties between care team and dentists. As these various constraints can limit the monitoring and management of the consequences of oral senescence, it is easy to understand the oral health deterioration in nursing home residents.

This worsening in oral health is all the more worrying because residents rarely express the need for care, until emergency. This lack of complaints calls for even greater vigilance. While general hygiene care is well carried out, the majority of nursing staff are uncomfortable with oral hygiene care, which sometimes end up neglected or insufficient. Among the reasons that could explain this lack of care, nursing homes staff often speak of a reluctance to carry them out, a lack of knowledge, or even a fear of investing in this oral sphere.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that nursing staff (nurse, orderlies, medical-psychological assistants and hospital service agents) oral health formation will help the development of knowledge and skills, and will improve the quality of life related to oral health of dependant people, while decreasing nursing staff anxiety levels in regards to dental care.

To this end, before and 6 months after training in oral hygiene care for carers, the quality of life in relation to the oral health of residents will be assessed using the GOHAI questionnaire. Caregivers' anxiety levels will be assessed using the STAI-Y questionnaire. At the end of the training, two caregivers will be designated as oral health referents in each nursing home and a support unit will be set up. Supporting documents to help make the decision to call the dentist and care protocols left on site will complete this system.