About the project

Background

At least 153,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK. This is expected to double by 2065, making it the fastest growing neurological condition globally. 

Maintaining the health of the mouth and teeth (also known as oral health) is not always prioritised within Parkinson’s management. Symptoms of Parkinson's may impact on oral health, and make it harder to carry out daily mouth care practices, attend dental appointments and receive dental treatment. 

Research suggests people living with Parkinson’s (PwP) experience poorer oral health than the general population. This can include more dental decay, gum disease and tooth loss, resulting in pain and infection. This can impact on eating, sleeping, smiling and socialising, quality of life, general health and wellbeing.

The project

This project is about helping PwP to improve and maintain their oral health-related quality of life at home. 

Phase 1

We will be working with PwP, their partners in care, and healthcare professionals, to find out what would make it easier for people to look after their oral health and improve their oral health-related quality of life, creating a mouth care support programme for people to use at home.

This phase will involve:

● Completing activities at home, online or in person, and either individually, as a pair or in a group

● People taking part in this part of the project may drop in or out as needed

● People may complete or take part in as many or as few activities as they feel able to

This phase will last approximately 5 months, and its findings will help us to develop a mouth care support programme for PwP living at home.

Phase 2

We will test the mouth care support programme for 3 months to see if it's useful, easy to use, find out what people think about it and if any changes need to be made.

This will help to answer important questions like:

● Can people be recruited to a study to test the programme?

● How many people will stay in the study until the end?

● How will we know if the programme works?

● Is the programme acceptable to everyone involved?

For this phase of the project, we will be recruiting people from hospital outpatient appointments and dental practices in South Yorkshire.

If you would like to know more about this project, please contact: jtebbutt1@sheffield.ac.uk