Providing Daily Oral Infection Control to Persons Dependent on others for Activities of Daily Living: A Semi-Qualitative Descriptive Study.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to evaluate caregiver assessment of the ease of use of a specially designed toothbrush for providing daily oral infection control (toothbrushing) to persons dependent upon others for activities of daily living. METHOD Eighty-eight caregivers accepted surveys and multi-surface toothbrushes to provide daily oral infection control to the person to whom they assisted. They were asked to evaluate the ease of use of the multi-surface toothbrush, and provide comments about it. RESULTS There were 30 surveys returned (34.1% response rate). In terms of the ease of use, 90.0% of the caregivers agreed (63.3% strongly agreed, and 26.7% agreed) that the multi-surface toothbrush was easier to use than their previous toothbrush. Comments about the toothbrush were predominantly positive. CONCLUSION It is difficult to provide daily oral infection control to another individual. Having an efficient oral health aid which makes it easier to do so is important to caregivers. With the overwhelming positive response to the multi-surface toothbrush, it is important to disseminate the information about its ease of use.