Oral Health Care for Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Abstract

A mail survey was conducted in September 2000 to clarify the actual state of oral health care for patients with ALS. The subjects were members of a patient's association, and a total of 170 members answered the questionnaire for a response rate of 62.7%.

Of total subjects, those who were taken care of for oral health only by relatives without professional help accounted for 40 percent. Those whose oral health care was taken less than once a day accounted for 15 percent. Those who received oral health care in such an insufficient way as being wiped with gauze or rinsed with antiseptic accounted for 20 percent. Although 57 percent of subjects were living under mechanical ventilation, those who had received the guidance to prevent aspiration pneumonia accounted for only eight percent. A half of patients who did not need help in daily living, and a quarter of those being bed-ridden had not received dental treatment after the onset of ALS. Thus the oral hygiene instruction for patients with ALS in early stage seems insufficient. In order to prevent aspiration pneumonia by improving oral health in patients with ALS, it is necessary for doctors and nurses to cooperate with dentists and dental hygienists.