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Oral health promotion for special care patients

8 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer
Oral health care for special care patients with physical or sensory disability can present a challenge. This article describes why there are risks to oral health and gives some tips for dental nurses trained in special care dentistry on how to provide effective care

Special health care needs are defined as ‘any physical, developmental, mental, sensory, behavioural, cognitive, or emotional, impairment or limiting condition that requires medical management, healthcare intervention, and/or use of specialized services or programs’ (American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry, 2008).

There are approximately 11 million disabled adults in the UK (Department for Work and Pensions, 2014). In addition, there are 11.4 million people aged over 65 years; 1.5 million of these are aged over 85 years (Office for National Statistics, 2015).

This older population will lead to an increase in the incidence of chronic conditions, such as arthritis, cardiovascular and neurological disease and an increased number of people with physical impairment in the population. Arthritis already affects 8 million people in the UK (Gallagher and Fiske, 2007).

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