The British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT) has welcomed new quality standards released by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which focus on improving the oral health care of adults that move into care homes.1

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The new guidelines outline the importance of assessing each new resident's oral health care needs on admission and furthermore, recording their oral health care needs in their personal plan to ensure they are continually reviewed.

The BSDHT fully supports the new NICE guidance as the organisation believes they are a vital part of providing effective oral health for adults in care homes.

President of the BSDHT, Helen Minnery, commented on the importance of the NICE standards: ‘These guidelines are a massive step in the right direction to ensure that people in care homes receive the oral health care they need and deserve. We feel that there has previously been a lack of effective support and guidance in this area which has led to many care home residents not getting the support they need.

‘With a lack of guidance and support for the oral health of many care home residents the likelihood of developing serious oral health problems is dangerously high. Without basic care oral health can quickly decline; this often leads to problems being able to eat and drink properly and therefore a person's nutrition can suffer.

‘We will be advising our members to form strong links with local care homes around the UK to ensure we can effectively deliver this much-needed care’.