Effect of a collaborative transdisciplinary team approach on oral health status in acute stroke patients

Background: Oral function deteriorates easily during the acute phase of cerebral stroke. Therefore, oral health care involving a transdisciplinary approach consisting of dental and medical professionals might be important, but has not been studied in detail.

Objective: This study assessed the oral health status of patients with cerebral stroke in the acute phase, with the aim of elucidating the efficacy of collaborative, transdisciplinary oral health care involving dentists, dental hygienists, nurses and speech therapists.

Methods: The participants were 115 consecutive acute cerebral stroke patients, who received oral health care while hospitalised at the university hospital. Their oral health status was assessed using the oral health assessment tool (OHAT) on admission and discharge.

Results: Patients with acute cerebral stroke had high OHAT scores on admission, meaning poor oral health status. The collaborative oral health care resulted in significant decrease of OHAT scores at discharge, indicative of the improvement of oral health status. Multivariate analysis identified OHAT score for tongue, dentures and oral cleanliness on admission as the significant variables associated with poor oral health status at discharge.

Conclusions: Thus, the oral health of cerebral stroke patients in the acute phase can be improved by implementing transdisciplinary collaboration of medical and dental professionals. Particularly, patients with problems pertaining to the tongue, dentures and oral cleanliness as revealed through OHAT on admission may require more intensive intervention.