Top dentist claims sugary foods and supplements bad for nursing home patients’ teeth – Irish Mirror

A leading dentist claimed sugary foods and supplements are wreaking havoc on the dental health of thousands of nursing home patients.

Dr Anne Twomey said people who have held onto their teeth for 80 years are now losing them in three months.

She accused the HSE of reneging on its duty of care to 27,000 patients by failing to meet their dental health needs.

Dr Twomey, who is vice president of the Irish Dental Association, said the unregulated use of fortified high sugar food supplements is causing untold damage.

She said: Fortified oral nutritional supplements can be effective in increasing a patients calorie intake but one of the consequences of constantly sipping these high sugar content drinks is the very negative effect they have on oral health.

When you add in all the gifts of sweets and soft drinks which patients receive you have a recipe for disaster. Dr Twomey said her practice was contacted recently by a nursing home to say an elderly patient with end-stage Parkinsons disease, urgently needed dental care.

On the first visit, she said she could see there was overwhelming halitosis and sadly her grandchildren were refusing to hug her. Staff had rubbed the 75 year-olds teeth twice daily with a sponge but she hadnt had her teeth brushed in two years.

Dr Twomey said she had to remove four of the womans upper incisors, while the remaining teeth were in such poor condition phased extractions were essential.

She pointed out that because of the medication a significant number of patients like this woman suffer from dry mouth and this accelerates dental decay.

She said: Very often the situation has reached crisis proportions by the time Im called in and I have to take out 15 to 20 teeth over a short period of time.

Although these patients are among our most vulnerable citizens, they have little or no access to oral hygiene.

In addition dentists are generally not included in the multi-disciplinary teams which care for them.

Dr Twomey highlighted this issue in a recent edition of the Journal of the IDA.

She has urged the HSE and HIQA to step up to their obligations and added: These patients did not reach old age with their original teeth on a high-sugar diet.

As well as carefully monitoring high-sugar supplements, family and carers should be encouraged to provide low-sugar treats. Patients bedrooms often resemble a sweet shop.

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Top dentist claims sugary foods and supplements bad for nursing home patients' teeth - Irish Mirror