# Experiences of Individual Care Workers in Oral Care of Dementia Patients

## TL;DR

This study explores the challenges faced by care workers when providing oral care to dementia patients and highlights the importance of daily oral hygiene.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the experiences and obstacles individual care workers face in delivering oral care to dementia patients.

## Key findings

- Cognitive disorders in dementia patients create significant barriers for care workers during oral care.
- Patients' unreasonable fears impact the effectiveness of oral hygiene tasks.
- Care workers emphasize the importance of daily oral care for dementia patients.

## Abstract

Objective: Dementia is one of the most common diseases in the elderly population. The aim of this study was to reveal the experiences of individual care workers performing oral care for dementia patients. The oral health of the elderly is in a critical state and in most cases not enough attention is paid to this problem. Material and methods: A qualitative research method was chosen for the research. The data collection instrument was a semi-structured interview, the purpose of which was to reveal the experience, knowledge, and attitude of individual care workers towards the importance of oral care and the oral hygiene habits of patients with dementia. The number of research informants was 10. The inclusion criteria were individual care workers working in social care institutions who were responsible for the personal care of dementia patients. Results: The analysis of the study showed that the main obstacles facing individual care workers in performing oral care for dementia patients are related to their cognitive disorders. For this reason, unreasonable fears of patients may arise, which also affect the proper performance of individual oral hygiene and other tasks assigned to employees. Conclusions: The results of the study showed that according the informants’ opinions it is crucial to take care of dementia patients’ oral care daily.