Condições de próteses dentárias em pacientes hospitalizados : sugestão de protocolo.

Abstract

Usually hospitalized patients have difficulty maintaining their oral hygiene habits during the hospitalization period, due to the fact that they are debilitated or do not have adequate support to perform care, which can lead to outbreaks of infection, complicating the clinical picture. In addition, some medications may cause considerable adverse effects on the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to analyze the conditions of patients' dental prostheses during hospitalization and to suggest a care protocol. This is an observational cross-sectional study of patients admitted to the São Francisco Ward of Santa Cruz Hospital. For data collection, a questionnaire was applied with variables of interest such as duration of use, adaptation and conditions of preservation of dental prostheses, presence of lesions in the oral mucosa, conditions of the remaining teeth, use of antibiotics and check if there is a routine of care and guidance of oral hygiene and dental prostheses by the multidisciplinary team. Thirty-two patients participated in this study, being 57.60% women and 42.40% men, between 51 and 92 years old. Most of the patients (81.1%) reported to perform dental hygiene at least twice a day with escort assistance. As for receiving hygiene instructions 91% said they had not received any instruction during the hospitalization period. It can be stated that, in general, the dental prostheses of the patients evaluated in this study were in acceptable conditions of hygiene and adaptation, but there was a shortage of a routine of instructions regarding the hygiene of dental prostheses.