The Challenges of ORAL Health Among the Elderly

The aged in the society is challenged with tooth decay and oduor from the mouth, following the alleged complain of tooth ache were-in the gums are inflamed. The gums have become weak and the capacity to hold the tooth. This weakness comes with poor oral hygiene practice following the inability to brush which may lead to regularly medication. Further side effects leading to dental challenges consequently impact on the quality of life and overall wellbeing of the aged. The study therefore seeked to screen for microbes associated with the oral cavity of aged persons and hence, the screening involved the enumeration and biochemical characterization of microbes associates with the oral health of volunteered persons who are off age. Thus the oral cavity of seventy volunteered aged persons comprising of male and female were swabbed and taken to the laboratory for investigation. Investigations involved serial dilution of the sample to obtain a dilution factor of 10-1 and thereafter inoculation of the sample onto freshly prepared nutrient, sabourad dextrose and mannitol salt media. Thereafter, the isolates were isolated using the spread plate technique and result showed a mean microbial load range of 5.9 x 103 and 5.9 x 103CFU/ml for heterotrophic bacteria counts and heterotrophic fungi count showed a mean count range of 3.5 x 103 and 1 x 103CFU/ml. Staphylococcal counts had counts ranged from 5.9 x 103 and 5.9 x 103CFU/ml. Following the counts, a total of eleven (11) isolates were recovered from the oral cavity. Staphylococcus aureus had the highest frequency of occurrence of eleven isolates while Candida albicans had the least isolates. The study noted that Staph. aureus encourages foul smell hence its presence cannot be over look but checked given it challenge on the elderly.