Regulator finds improvements to oral health in care homes

CQC first reviewed oral health in care homes in 2019, and found steps were often not being taken to ensure that people get the oral health care they need to ensure that they are pain-free and that their dignity is respected.

The health and social care regulator has conducted a follow-up review of how providers have responded to its recommendations from 2019 and was pleased to find that improvements were being made.

The review found:

Mary Cridge, director of adult social care at CQC, said, "Our review for our first Smiling Matters report in 2019 set out to discover how well care home and dental providers were implementing the NICE guideline on oral health. We found that staff awareness of the guideline recommendations was low, and not everyone was supported to keep their teeth or dentures clean.