Mouth Care

Mouth care is an important part of overall well being and impacts on eating, drinking, communication and comfort.  Whilst most people are independent in managing their own oral hygiene others may be partially or fully dependent on others to support them with this. Equally certain illnesses and treatments impact on oral wellbeing and these factors need to be considered as part of the individual's global wellbeing and health. All patient's should be screened for oral hygiene and risk factors and supported to maintain independence as much as possible. Where oral hygiene needs are identified it is important that the patient is appropriately supported including onward referral to other specialities.

When undertaking mouth care it is important to select and use the correct equipment and to use equipment that you know how to use and are comfortable with. Different equipment has different uses and should be used for its designed purpose. For example a foam swab is not a replacement for a toothbrush.

Read the illustrated guide to Mouth Care on ClinicalSkills.net here: 

You will need to be logged into ClinicalSkills.net to use these pages: Go to ClinicalSkills.net, click login at the top, enter your user name and password. You must have set up your account to do this. For further information on how to login to your ClinicalSkills.net account please click here: How to Login to ClinicalSkills.net

Mouth care 

Safety

Following an incident some trusts have removed the foam sticks from their mouthcare equipment, this is due to the foam head becoming dislodged and causing a choking hazard. The safety alert can be found here

Click on the button below to navigate to the 'Take a Test' area of ClinicalSkills.net. Please make sure you're logged into ClinicalSkills.net already, otherwise you may not be able to open and take the test. Once you have reached the 'Take a Test' area, select 'Local Tests' and then click on the test called 'Mouth Care' to begin. You will need to score 80% or more to pass. Make sure you've read the ClinicalSkills.net procedure thoroughly before taking the test as many of the answers will be found within there!

Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Procedures (9th Edition): Mouth Care- Page 220- 228

ProQuest Ebook Central - Reader 

Date reviewed: 

Next review: August 2023