Part 4: Check Your Understanding

Which of the following can be considered among the oral health care challenges for people with dementia?
Which of the following are communication and behavior management strategies to be used with patients with dementia?
Task breakdown is an effective technique for communicating with individuals with dementia. This technique simplifies everyday tasks by breaking them down into small sequences of actions. For example, toothbrushing can be broken down into 20 or more steps including: recognizing the toothbrush, identifying the toothpaste, removing the top from the toothpaste, placing toothpaste on the toothbrush, locating and turning on the cold tap, wetting the toothbrush and toothpaste, etc.
To use the communication strategy of bridging, while the caregiver does the oral health care activity for the person, a spare toothbrush or denture is placed in the hands of the person to help improve their understanding of the activity to be performed.
In the chaining technique, a caregiver starts a task and the person then finishes the task. This helps to preserve abilities and independence, and can help determine when to commence checking after oral care is completed.
With the distraction technique, a familiar item such as a towel, busyboard, or cushion is placed in the person’s hands during oral care. The item is used to distract the individual's attention from the oral care procedure.

Oral Hygiene Care Plan (Chalmers, 2004 for use by the Iowa Geriatric Education Center; reviewed by Marchini, 2016; Review 2023)

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