Abstract
Purpose: The high prevalence of dementia in the current aging population is causing great strain on nursing and healthcare professionals, and is becoming a major social issue. Cognitive decline reduces independence and diminishes the effectiveness of oral self-care, which makes it difficult to maintain healthy oral and masticatory functions and can increase the risk of orofacial pain. However, the exact relationship between the two is still unknown. The aim of this review article was to explore current problems and future prospects by compiling pre-existing knowledge on the relationship between cognitive impairment, dementia, and orofacial pain.
Study selection: An electronic literature search was performed on PubMed and Ichushi-Web using the keywords “cognitive impairment,” “dementia,” and “orofacial pain.” Since we could only obtain a limited number of original research articles from our online literature search, manual literature search was supplemented.
Results: Some previous reports suggest that the prevalence of orofacial pain is higher in older individuals with cognitive impairment and dementia than in those without these conditions. Contrary to this, other studies report the opposite inference. The diagnosis and prevalence of orofacial pain are considered to be difficult to accurately determine in non-verbal individuals. In addition, current examination and diagnostic procedures for orofacial pain are insufficient for non-verbal individuals with dementia.
Conclusions: In the current unprecedented aging population, establishing accurate diagnostic procedures for orofacial pain in older individuals with dementia should be considered imperative.
