4.1. Evaluation of Oral Hygiene Status between the Beginning (T0) and end (T1a) of Hospitalization
fine motor skills decrease, denture
DISEASES, PLAQUE
Despite extensive IndOHCT in the IG at baseline, there were no significant differences between the IG and CG in plaque reduction on teeth and dentures. It can be speculated that inpatient self-motivation to maintain good oral hygiene was low. One possible reason for the stagnation of plaque scores between T0 and T1a could be that more focus was being placed on the acute inpatients’ general diseases, and not on oral hygiene. Consequently, dental and prosthetic care received little attention. Presumably, inpatients focus to increase their BI score by mobility training with the aim to become fit faster so that they can leave the hospital sooner. They invest their energy into mobility training by walking and climbing stairs [Younger geriatric inpatients removed denture plaque more effectively than older inpatients but without statistical significance. At older ages, fine motor skills decrease, impairing practical competencies, such as oral hygiene, which was confirmed by Grönbeck Lindén et al. and Curreri et al. [Sex, number of natural teeth, PSI score, and geriatric assessment tests had no significant influence on the TmQHI score between T0 and T1a. Nevertheless, the findings revealed a possible relationship between geriatric assessment and the DHI score. Activities of daily living measured by the total BI score had no significant effect on the DHI or TmQHI scores. However, the reduced sub-scores revealed a significant and high effect. High scores on the eating, personal hygiene, and dressing criteria were useful in predicting high denture cleaning efficacy. These findings are consistent with those of other studies where high BI scores were associated with good dental and denture hygiene [