ORAL HEALTH CARE IN PATIENTS OF THE INTENSIVE CARE UNITS.

Abstract

Introduction: oral hygiene is considered a basic need to protect the health and well-being of the population, with more emphasis for patients under intensive care support. Objective: shortly review the literature about effective role of well-trained professional teams while performing oral care in patients managed in the Intensive Care Unity. Methods: scientific review article, taking as a source of information the current literature published in the PubMed database between 2004 and 2024 including, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and review studies related with the buccal care procedures, and their relationships with the outcomes of critical ill patients under the infection risks. Results: 28 articles were analyzed, with data of children or adult patients of diverse continents who needed mechanical ventilation, enteral or parenteral feeding, or some invasive procedure favoring the hospital acquired infections, mainly the pneumonias. The reviewed literature most frequently described the lack or insufficient specialized care for the oral cavity of patient with very limited autonomy during hospitalizations. Conclusion: as a whole, there is a need for the dental specialists in the hospital team to personally perform, besides to train in service the nurse staffs and their assistants to carry on the correct methods for the patient daily buccal hygiene, with improvement of general health care and avoiding the worsening during the hospitalization period.