Oral function declines in older individuals due to disease and age-related changes, making them vulnerable to oral and physical frailty. Therefore, it is important to manage the decline in oral function in older outpatients. Oral hypofunction is diagnosed by seven tests related to oral function, oral hygiene, oral moisture, occlusal force, oral diadochokinesis, tongue pressure, masticatory function, and swallowing function. However, sex or age were not factored into the current reference values of these tests. We included subjects attending the dental hospital clinic for maintenance, and recorded and analyzed oral hypofunction and the factors associated with its diagnosis. Of the 134 outpatients (53 males and 81 females, mean age 75.2 ± 11.2 years), 63% were diagnosed with oral hypofunction. Oral hypofunction prevalence increased significantly with age, and significant variations were observed in all tests. Furthermore, oral hygiene and swallowing function were not associated with oral hypofunction diagnosis. All examined factors decreased with increasing age, even after adjusting sex, except for oral hygiene and moisture. Occlusal force and masticatory function were higher in men after adjusting age. This study suggested that older outpatients were likely to be diagnosed with oral hypofunction, and that the test reference value and their selection for oral hypofunction should be reconsidered.

Objective: To clarify the effect of oral health guidance on tongue‐lip motor function in the outpatients visiting the Showa University Dental Hospital (Tokyo, Japan).Background: The management of the oral function of older people visiting a dental hospital is important. Previous studies have revealed that tongue‐lip motor function is easy to improve. However, the impact of oral health guidance on tongue‐lip motor function in the outpatients of dental hospital requires further elucidation.Materials and Methods: The participants (n = 35) included patients who were diagnosed with low tongue‐lip motor function on evaluation by oral diadochokinesis (ODK) at the outpatient clinic. They underwent a second examination approximately 6‐12 months later. Their demographic characteristics were recorded. Oral health guidance was provided through an educational leaflet on oral hypofunction when the participants visited the clinic. It included content on tongue twisters, voice training and a range of movement and muscle training of the tongue and lip.Results: Following oral health guidance on tongue‐lip motor function, the ODK values changed from 5.6 at the first examination to 6.0 at the second for /pa/, from 5.6 to 5.8 for /ta/ and from 5.2 to 5.4 for /ka/. This improvement was not significantly associated with age, sex, measurement period or number of visits.Conclusion: The findings of this longitudinal study suggested that oral health guidance using an oral hypofunction educational leaflet may be effective in improving the tongue‐lip motor function of outpatients who had low tongue‐lip motor function, regardless of the measurement period or the number of visits to the dental hospital.

This longitudinal study aimed to clarify the impact of regular oral health management for oral hypofunction on the oral function of older dental outpatients. The 68 participants enrolled in this study were older dental outpatients (mean age 78.5 ± 8.1 years). According to the number of declined oral examinations after the first exam, participants were assigned to the oral hypofunction group (Hypo group, ≥3), receiving regular oral health management with a leaflet at the dental clinic, or the pre-oral hypofunction group (Pre-hypo group, ≤2), which served as a control. At the second oral examination, after approximately 6 months to 1 year, the Hypo group showed significant improvement in the tongue-lip motor function (Oral diadochokinesis, ODK) /pa/, /ta/, and masticatory function, while the Pre-hypo group showed significant worsening in oral hygiene and oral wetness. Temporal changes in ODK /pa/, /ta/, and the number of declined examination items were significantly different between the groups. Multiple analysis revealed that the number of improved oral examination items were associated with presence of regular oral health management after adjusting for age, sex, number of visits, measuring period, and dental treatment. Regular comprehensive oral health management for oral hypofunction improves and maintains oral function among older dental outpatients.

Older adults often experience poor oral functions, hindering rehabilitation post-acute disease treatment. However, characteristics of hospitalized patients who would benefit from professional oral-health management (POHM) have not been clarified. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate systemic and oral characteristics of patients requiring POHM during hospitalization in a convalescent hospital. This study included 312 participants admitted to the rehabilitation department of a convalescent hospital for a year. The patients were categorized according to POHM requirements (no-POHM group: 137 patients; POHM group: 175 patients) by discharge. Age, sex, primary disease at admission, Glasgow coma scale (GCS), Functional Independence Measurement (FIM), Mini nutritional assessment-short form (MNA-SF), Functional oral intake scale (FOIS), number of present and functional teeth, Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) scores, and POHM details provided during patient hospitalization were compared. Binomial logistic-regression analysis identified patients requiring POHM as those who had suffered a stroke and had a low number of present teeth, poor overall oral health, low food form, and low motor skills at admission. A high percentage of POHM interventions comprised oral-hygiene care and denture treatment. In summary, patients whose oral health has deteriorated and those experiencing oral-intake difficulties upon admission to a convalescent hospital may require oral-health management.

Background/Objectives: Many older adults who require long-term care need oral health management. However, access to dental care is limited, and connecting older patients with dental professionals is a future challenge. Therefore, the development of a remote oral health assessment system is required. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of video-based oral health assessments in older adults residing in facilities. Methods: This study comprised 60 older adults residing in facilities who consented to dental home visit treatment by the Department of Oral Function Management at Showa University Dental Hospital between July 2021 and December 2022. The Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) was used to evaluate the oral health status at the facilities by one dentist. The concordance of the oral health assessments conducted by this dentist at the facilities (OHAT-B) was compared with those conducted by the same dentist (OHAT-V1) and two other dentists (OHAT-V2 and V3) using approximately 1 min video recordings of the oral cavity taken with a mobile electronic device. Results: On the OHAT total score, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC [1.1]) for OHAT-B and V1 was 0.931; the ICC (2.1) was 0.889 when compared with V2 and 0.788 when compared with V3. Moreover, the comparison between V2 and V3 showed high agreement, with an ICC (2.1) of 0.750. Conclusions: This study revealed that the oral health assessment of older adults residing in facilities using video recordings of the oral cavity taken with a mobile electronic device may be possible, suggesting the possibility of remote oral health assessment.