A leading dentist claimed sugary foods and supplements are wreaking havoc on the dental health of thousands of nursing home patients. <\/p>\n
Dr Anne Twomey said people who have held onto their teeth for 80 years are now losing them in three months. <\/p>\n
She accused the HSE of reneging on its duty of care to 27,000 patients by failing to meet their dental health needs. <\/p>\n
Dr Twomey, who is vice president of the Irish Dental Association, said the unregulated use of fortified high sugar food supplements is causing untold damage. <\/p>\n
She said: Fortified oral nutritional supplements can be effective in increasing a patients calorie intake but one of the consequences of constantly sipping these high sugar content drinks is the very negative effect they have on oral health. <\/p>\n
When you add in all the gifts of sweets and soft drinks which patients receive you have a recipe for disaster. Dr Twomey said her practice was contacted recently by a nursing home to say an elderly patient with end-stage Parkinsons disease, urgently needed dental care. <\/p>\n
On the first visit, she said she could see there was overwhelming halitosis and sadly her grandchildren were refusing to hug her. Staff had rubbed the 75 year-olds teeth twice daily with a sponge but she hadnt had her teeth brushed in two years. <\/p>\n
Dr Twomey said she had to remove four of the womans upper incisors, while the remaining teeth were in such poor condition phased extractions were essential. <\/p>\n
She pointed out that because of the medication a significant number of patients like this woman suffer from dry mouth and this accelerates dental decay. <\/p>\n
She said: Very often the situation has reached crisis proportions by the time Im called in and I have to take out 15 to 20 teeth over a short period of time. <\/p>\n
Although these patients are among our most vulnerable citizens, they have little or no access to oral hygiene. <\/p>\n
In addition dentists are generally not included in the multi-disciplinary teams which care for them. <\/p>\n
Dr Twomey highlighted this issue in a recent edition of the Journal of the IDA. <\/p>\n
She has urged the HSE and HIQA to step up to their obligations and added: These patients did not reach old age with their original teeth on a high-sugar diet. <\/p>\n
As well as carefully monitoring high-sugar supplements, family and carers should be encouraged to provide low-sugar treats. Patients bedrooms often resemble a sweet shop. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is the original post: <\/p>\n
Top dentist claims sugary foods and supplements bad for nursing home patients' teeth - Irish Mirror<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A leading dentist claimed sugary foods and supplements are wreaking havoc on the dental health of thousands of nursing home patients. Continue reading