Exploring Oral Health Challenges in Pateints with ALS: Practices, Barriers, and Disparities

Exploring Oral Health Challenges in Pateints with ALS: Practices, Barriers, and Disparities

Alvin Sherman Library

Proper oral health is often neglected in vulnerable populations such as persons living with ALS (plwALS) due to the myriad of physical demands and limitations of the disease.¹ Poor oral hygiene increases the risk of aspiration pneumonia, with studies demonstrating oral bacteria in the pulmonary tract of patients with pneumonia, and contributes to oral discomfort, reduced quality of life and increased caregiver burden.^4-6 Although oral hygiene represents a modifiable risk factor for pulmonary sequalae, it is not routinely addressed in the current standard of care for ALS and our knowledge of oral health in plwALS is limited. Therefore, the aim of this survey study was to characterize oral hygiene practices and identify barriers to routine oral hygiene among plwALS and their caregivers. An 18-item electronic survey was disseminated in both English and Spanish to plwALS (REDCap) with 88 surveys completed. Collected data included general ALS disease demographics, routine oral hygiene practices, obstacles of performing routine oral care and oral care literacy. Social determinants of dental health including zip code, race, ethnicity, annual income, education status, caregiver support were also collected. Findings revealed that while 60% of respondents found it easy to access professional dental care, 62% had dental insurance, and 27% reported worsening oral care since their ALS diagnosis, underscoring the need for improved oral health integration in ALS care.