Improving the Oral Health of Older People in Care Homes

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Improving the oral healTh of Older People In Care homes: a feasibility study (TOPIC)

• IRAS ID

  254421

• Contact name

  Georgios Tsakos

• Contact email

  g.tsakos@ucl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University College London

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  Z6364106/2019/03/42, UCL Data Protection number

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 5 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Currently, half of all care home residents have their own natural teeth and this proportion is likely to increase. Preventing dental disease for care homes residents is important for their function and quality of life. It also reduces the need to provide treatment in care homes, which is often difficult and costly.

  A national survey found that current prevention practices and services in care homes are poor. There is also limited information about how best to prevent oral disease among residents.

  A recent NICE guideline aims to maintain and improve oral health of care home residents. This study aims to assess the feasibility of an intervention to improve the oral health of older people (aged sixty-five years or older) in care homes, based on the NICE guideline.

  Care homes will be randomly divided into two groups: intervention and control. The intervention consists of:

  • an oral health assessment of residents

  • daily “support worker assisted” tooth brushing with 1,500 fluoride toothpaste
  • a staff training package on how to improve oral health

  Three work streams (WS) are proposed. WS1 will assess the feasibility of undertaking the intervention. Eligible residents who have their own natural teeth will be recruited. Baseline assessments will be conducted, using trained dentists to collect clinical information. Questionnaires will be used to collect other data (e.g. sociodemographic, quality of life). Recruitment, retention and the acceptability of the intervention for residents, staff and managers will be determined. After twelve months, the assessments will be repeated and findings will be compared to those at baseline.

  The WS2 will interview residents, managers and staff to understand the proposed intervention’s acceptability.

  The WS3 will explore issues relating to an economic evaluation that presents costs and different outcomes in order to help decision-making. It will identify the outcomes considered important to different stakeholders and determine the possibility of reducing these to a core set of indicators.

• REC name

  London - City & East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/LO/1107

• Date of REC Opinion

  26 Jul 2019

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion