Illinois nursing homes are responsible for providing their patients with everyday care and support. From feeding and cleaning to comfortable rest and intellectual enrichment, patients are often completely dependent on the staff in residential care facilities to meet their needs. Sadly, nursing homes are often not as diligent about providing excellent staff as they should be, leading to neglect and even abuse.
One of the first places nursing home neglect often appears is in residents’ dental care. Regular dental care requires daily attention to minute details. Symptoms of derelict dental care appear quickly, making it hard to fake quality dental care where there is none. Problems that start in the mouth rarely stay there; dental problems often snowball into further, more serious issues. Elderly people are at particular risk of contracting illness and disease through poor dental care. Here are some common oral health problems in nursing home residents without proper dental care.
Common Health Problems From Poor Dental Care
There is a well-established link between oral health and other areas of physical health, and an unhealthy mouth is often correlated with an unhealthy body. This is because dirty teeth and gums are easy conduits for bacteria into the bloodstream. Poor dental care can cause major health problems, including:
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Although it is common, diabetes is a very serious medical condition. Diabetes is especially dangerous in elderly people or those with co-occurring medical conditions. Individuals who experience cognitive decline from dementia and related illness are also at increased risk of severe diabetes complications. These individuals may not recognize the signs of dangerously high or low blood sugar or be able to express their concerns to others. This is why it is so important for nursing home staff to monitor diabetic residents and provide consistently high-quality medical care to these vulnerable individuals.
When we think of nursing home dangers, wandering and elopement, severe fall accidents, or other dramatic incidents may come to mind. However, in many cases, the most dangerous thing that a nursing home resident does each day occurs during mealtimes. Elderly individuals and those with disabilities may have difficulty chewing and swallowing food. While it may seem insignificant, something as simple as
Most of us take the ability to chew and swallow our food for granted. We eat three times a day or more without thinking twice about whether eating poses a risk to our safety. But as bodies age, reductions in muscle mass and strength in the mouth and throat, combined with dental problems such as tooth loss, make elderly populations at a much higher risk of choking on food. Even babies and very young children are at substantially less risk of choking on food than an adult over age 65. 
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