Influence of dental factors on oropharyngeal dysphagia among recipients of long‐term care

The study evaluated the association of the sociodemographic, behavioural variables and the oral conditions with the presence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in long-term care older persons.Due to the influence of ageing, swallowing may be altered both in people with natural teeth and in those who have dentures or tooth loss.This cross-sectional study evaluated 115 individuals older than 60 years, living in long-term care institutions of the State of Rio Grande do Sul in 2016. The diagnosis of dysphagia happen using a clinical speech evaluation, based on the research of signals and symptoms of alterations during deglutition, and on an oral sensory-motor evaluation. The dental clinical evaluation examined the oral cavity, teeth and dental prostheses, including a Xerostomia assessment. Poisson Regressions with robust variance was calculated were used to estimate crude and adjusted Prevalence Ratios(PR) and their IC95%.The sample was mostly comprised of older women (67.0%), with more than 81 years of age (44.3%) and edentulous (54.3%). Diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia was verified in 60.9% of the participants. In the final model, older persons who presented no pair (PR=1.52(CI95%=1.02-2.40)) had a highest prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia, when compared to older persons who presented 8 to 14 mixed pairs, as well as those older persons who had more complaints related to symptoms of Xerostomia (PR=2.86(CI95% 1.58-5.18)).Institutionalised older persons with a poor oral health condition are associated with a higher prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia, as well as with the presence of Xerostomia.