Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Patient Care (HLT54115)

This report provides a comprehensive overview of oral health assessment and management, crucial for nursing students. It details the significance of dental examinations, identifying behavioral and physical indicators of oral health issues, and the importance of patient medical history. The report covers various factors affecting oral health, including infections, dietary habits, substance abuse, and the impact of medical conditions and medications. It outlines visual examination techniques, signs and symptoms of oral health problems, and nursing interventions, such as oral hygiene plans and patient education on topics like tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth wear. The report also addresses barriers to proper oral health management, communication strategies, and available oral health services, including government policies and healthy eating recommendations. Additionally, it highlights the importance of ongoing assessment and monitoring of patients' oral health and includes relevant references for further study.

HLT54115 Diploma of Nursing
1.
Through detailed dental examination one can observe this patient's behaviour, physical
function, capabilities and habit that may help in identifying the presence of oral health
issues, associated pain and discomfort (Anderson, Noar and Rogers, 2013).
2.
The other ways include getting knowledge regarding medical history of patients and other
disease they are facing along with this problem.
3.
a)
It can lead to various oral infections, tooth decays and hinders the normal functioning of the
mouth and in some cases poor health can also lead to pneumonia (Vann Jr and et.al.,
2013).
b)
It can help in maintaining the proper oral hygiene and prevent person from many oral
disorder and disease.
c)
Consumption of alcohol can pose a risk that may lead to oral cancer. Abuse of licit and
illicit drugs can create complications in oral health (Shen, Wildman and Steele, 2013). This
highly effect the person's behaviour and may cause severe pain. Herbal treatment can help
in effective management of the oral health and improve the persons normal behaviour.
d)
Correct infant feeding practices help in preventing the development of early childhood oral
problems. In the initial months breast feeding is important as bottle feeding may lead to
many oral problems.
e)
Habitual grinding can lead to muscular pain, loose of tooth structure, shortening of teeth,
and gum recession.
f)
Fluid intake of beverages can create the risk of caries and consumption of excessive sugar
can lead to tooth decay.
g)
Fluoride help in terminating the damages that is already started in the teeth and help in
resisting the activity of bacteria’s in mouth. Excess of fluoride can cause flourosis that
result in white and brown spots on teeth.
h)

General health and well being help a person in maintaining the good oral health and
prevent the occurrence of illness in mouth (Shen, Wildman and Steele, 2013).
i)
These conditions causes changes in lining of mouth that effect the salivary glands which
result in severe infection, mouth sores and tooth decay.
j)
During the treatment of seizure the anti seizure drugs can cause infections and xerostomia.
k)
There are some patients having medical history of some diseases like diabetes, thyroid,
HIV, iron deficiency that posses effect on the oral healthy and may lead to dry mouth.
l)
Oral piercing in some cases may lead to permanent numbness of tongue dur o damage of
nerves present in nerves and can also effect the taste buds (Anderson, Noar and Rogers,
2013).
m)
This information help person to maintain bright white teeth along with reduction of risk
related to loss of teeth and dental problems.
n)
Bacteria get shelter by residing themselves in the dental calculus and may result in irritating
and damaged gums.
o)
These psychological problems related to fear of dentures may lead to dental phobia and
result in various oral health problems such as bad breathe and cavities.
p)
Saliva plays an important role in prevention of oral infection but its reduction may result in
oral problems such as xerostomia.
q)
Smoking causes severe damages to the mouth which includes: gum disease, tooth loss,
tooth staining and mouth cancer (Anderson, Noar and Rogers, 2013).
r)
Due to prevalence of many social and cultural determinants oral health is effected and
results in many diseases.
s)
Susceptible tooth surfaces results in the decay of the teeth.

t)
This lead to the dental caries which is a multi factorial transmissible disease.
u)
Misalignment teeth hinders the cleaning process and thus results in tooth decay and gum
disease (Shen, Wildman and Steele, 2013).
v)
Trauma in mouth due accidents results in bleeding and lacerations in the gum and fracture
in teeth.
4.
In the visual examination there is need of pen torch, gauze swab and tongue depressor are
needed. They are required to identify the structure and abnormalities in the mouth. Nurses
are required to record the observations and structures of oral cavity.
5.
Signs and symptoms that indicate the oral health issues are:
 Bad breath
 Broken teeth
 Brown or discoloured teeth
 Calculus
 Dry mouth
 Bleeding from gums
6.
After identifying status of oral structure EN plans an oral hygiene with patients. This
includes instructions regarding the brushing. EN also suggests making use of antiseptic
mouth wash while brushing. Suggest patients to keep their lips moist by use of paraffin and
document the oral care for further evaluation (Anderson, Noar and Rogers, 2013).
7.
There are several oral health issue that can be discussed with patients and their carer it
includes: tooth loss, oral cancer, oro-dental trauma, fungal, bacterial and viral infection.
8.
Verbal and visual communications strategies can be used in which EN can provide
information regarding the maintenance of the oral health with the help of illustrations and
videos. This helps patients and carer to easily understand importance of good oral health
(Vann Jr and et.al., 2013).
9.

Key barriers in proper management of oral health are:
 Language barrier
 Impairment of vision and hearing
 Psychological issues
 Cultural barriers
10.
Causes and prevention of tooth decay –
Causes: Various bacteria’s and food results in tooth decay. Plaque is formed in the gums
and teeth which contain the bacteria who feed on the sugar present in our food.
Prevention:
 Brushing two times a day by using toothpaste having fluoride (Nam and Jang,
2013).
 Clean the teeth using floss.
 Limiting the snacks and start consuming balanced diet.
Causes and prevention of gum disease –
Causes: The main reason of gum related problem is the presence of gingivitis. In this the
gums become red, swollen and in some cases start bleeding due to inflammation caused
by bacteria.
Prevention: this disease can be prevented by proper brushing of teeth that remove plaque
present in between teeth and gums (do Nascimento and et.al., 2013).
Causes and prevention of tooth wear, including erosion, abrasion and
attrition -
Causes: The major causes of tooth wear having abrasion, erosion and attrition are: tooth
grinding, acid erosion, dietary causes and formation of internal acids.
Prevention: Prevention of this problem includes proper diagnoses and to eliminate the
root cause of tooth wear (Anderson, Noar and Rogers, 2013).
11.
Oral cavity consists of cheeks, palate, floor of mouth, lips and part of tongue present in
mouth. There is a presence of mucous membrane that lines whole inside of mouth. This
structure of oral cavity plays an effective role in taste, role in speech and initial step of
digestion.
12.
There are various oral health services that can be provided to this patient that includes:
Eighteen Aboriginal Medical services and NSW oral health care services. Eligibility for
adults for these services are : should be 18 years of age or more, eligible for medicare,

resides within the boundary of local health district and should have one Australian
government card i.e. health care card, commonwealth senior health card and pensioner
concession card (Jin and et.al., 2016).
13.
The recommendation for healthy eating includes: intake of cheese, yogurt, green leafy
vegetables, apples, carrots, celery and almonds (Vann Jr and et.al., 2013).
14.
One can review and monitor this person health issue by daily assessment of voice and
swallow reflex along with the systematic observation of abnormalities present inside
mouth.
15.
The government policies that are prevailing in Australia in context to oral heath are: child
dental benefit scheme, National partnership agreement for public dental services and
regional and rural dental services (Bramanti and et.al., 2013).
REFERENCES
Anderson, C. N., Noar, S. M. and Rogers, B. D., 2013. The persuasive power of oral
health promotion messages: a theory of planned behavior approach to dental
checkups among young adults. Health communication. 28(3). pp.304-313.
Bramanti, E. and et.al., 2013. Oral health-related quality of life in partially edentulous
patients before and after implant therapy: a 2-year longitudinal study. ORAL &
implantology. 6(2). p.37.
do Nascimento, T. L. H. and et.al., 2013. Association between underweight and
overweight/obesity with oral health among independently living Brazilian
elderly. Nutrition. 29(1). pp.152-157.
Jin, L. J. and et.al., 2016. Global burden of oral diseases: emerging concepts,
management and interplay with systemic health. Oral diseases, 22(7), pp.609-
619.
Nam, Y. S. and Jang, J. Y., 2013. Potential factors associated with the quality of life in
South Korean senior people: based on oral health. Journal of dental hygiene
science. 13(3). pp.281-289.
Shen, J., Wildman, J. and Steele, J., 2013. Measuring and decomposing oral health
inequalities in an UK population. Community dentistry and oral
epidemiology. 41(6). pp.481-489.
Vann Jr, W. F. and et.al., 2013. Caregivers’ health literacy and their young children’s
oral-health–related expenditures. Journal of dental research. 92(7). pp.S55-
S62.