The oral health status of residents with different cognitive and dental‐related functions in three North Carolina assisted living facilities

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to describe the oral health status of assisted-living residents with different cognition and dental related functions (DRFs). METHODS: The present study was a secondary analysis of data collected for a cross-sectional study of residents in three assisted-living facilities in North Carolina. The participants were aged 50 years or older, had normal to severely-impaired cognition, and spoke English. Upon obtaining informed consent, an oral assessment was completed by a trained geriatric dentist. A research team member who was blind to the oral examination outcomes then used the Minimum Data Set Cognition Scale (MDS-COGS) to assess participants’ cognition and the Dental Activities Test (DAT) to evaluate oral self-care and other DRFs. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic, cognitive, functional and oral health status of the study participants. The impacts of cognitive and functional status on oral health measures were examined using simple linear regression models, negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial models. RESULTS: A total of 91 residents from three assisted-living facilities participated in the study. Oral hygiene and gingival health were significantly associated with cognition (p = 0.056 and p = 0.017, respectively) and DRFs (p= 0.013 and p= 0.008, respectively). Residents with poor cognitive and dental-related function also presented with poor oral hygiene and gingival health. CONCLUSION: The study results suggest that oral hygiene and gingival health were significantly associated with cognition and DRFs.