Application and effectiveness of experiential education combined with health coaching techniques in extended care for elderly patients with dental implants

TL;DR

This study found that combining experiential education with health coaching improves oral health outcomes for elderly dental implant patients over six months.

Contribution

The novel contribution is demonstrating the effectiveness of combining experiential education and health coaching in extended dental implant care for the elderly.

Findings

After six months, the intervention group showed significantly better periodontal indices compared to the control group.

The intervention group had improved oral health self-efficacy compared to the control group.

The implant survival rate was higher in the intervention group, though the difference was not statistically significant.

Abstract

Experiential education (EE) and health coaching techniques (HCT) were proved to be effective in health management. This study investigated the effectiveness of EE combined with HCT in extended care for elderly patients with dental implants.

A total of 90 elderly patients who received implant restoration were randomly divided into intervention group (IG) and control group (CG). CG received standard health education. IG received EE, HCT and standard health education. Periodontal conditions of peri-implants (plaque Index, PLI; sulcus bleeding index, SBI; gingival Index, GI) were assessed at 1-, 3-, and 6-months. Oral health self-efficacy and implant survival rates after 6 months were compared between two groups.

No significant differences in periodontal indices were observed between groups at 1 and 3 months post-intervention. After 6 months of intervention, the experimental group showed significantly superior PLI, mSBI, and GI scores relative to the control group (P < 0.05). IG also showed an improvement in oral health self-efficacy compared to the CG (P < 0.05). The implant survival rate in the IG was higher than in the CG after 6 months, but the difference was not significant.

EE combined with HCT improves oral health self-efficacy and periodontal health in elderly patients with dental implants.

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