What You Should Know About Oral Care And Aspiration Pneumonia

By Andrew Stevens


Pneumonia is basically a breathing condition that causes swelling and infection of the lungs, as well as the large airways. Aspiration pneumonic condition occurs if food, liquids, vomits, or saliva are aspirated into the airways or the lungs instead of being swallowed into the stomach through the esophagus. Since there are millions of micro-organisms in the mouth, oral care and aspiration pneumonia are highly linked.

As a result, flossing and brushing your mouth will aid in eliminating the micro-organisms from your mouth. In addition, oral care assists in preventing such bacteria from reaching the lungs. The bacteria are normally conveyed into your lungs when aspiration take with them materials like food and saliva. Nonetheless, proper mouth hygiene will aid in making the elements that reach the lungs to be less nasty. Also, pneumonic conditions caused by poor mouth hygiene will be avoided.

Generally, the mouth is frequently under-looked when seeking healthcare. People will always wash their hands and even wear gloves in order to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria. Nevertheless, they often forget the mouth hence resulting in pneumonic conditions. The mouth is usually considered a big gateway to the body hence germs find it easy to hide within the little spaces between the teeth and gums. Parking these spaces for more than 24 hours usually cause calcified plaques which the bacteria love more.

Basically, the sort of bacteria usually causing pneumonic conditions will depend on various factors. These include your health, instances of recent hospitalization, recent use of antibiotics, the environment you live in and a weak immune system. In addition, aspiration of alien materials can also arise from a number reasons. These include excessive alcohol use, coma, old age, as well as low levels of alertness caused by medicines, illnesses and so on.

Other factors that can increase the likelihood of developing aspirated pneumonia are for instance swallowing issues or even poor reflexes towards gagging. This is especially common in people who remain unconscious or are semi-conscious as a result of an injury to the brain or stroke. On the other hand, general anesthesia could raise the likelihood of this condition. The condition is evidenced by different symptoms. These are for example foul-smells, chest pains, coughing of dark or greenish sputum that also has blood or pus, breath shortness, fever and finally fatigue. Other symptoms may include swallowing difficulties, excessive sweating breath odor, as well as wheezing.

During the physical examination, the tests may reveal crackling sounds from the lungs, rapid pulse, decreased oxygen, and decreased mental awareness. Some of the tests used during the diagnosis are such as blood culture, arterial blood gas, chest x-ray, bronchoscopy, sputum culture, and swallowing tests.

However, the treatment of this pneumonic condition usually depends on the severity of the condition. Some people may even require hospitalization. In some cases, a breathing machine or a ventilator may be used to support breathing. Usually, antibiotics are used for treatment.

Oral care is, nevertheless, a significant routine that has to be considered by patients. When carried out appropriately, the development of the aspiration pneumonia is easily prevented. This owes the fact that proper oral hygiene will aid in reducing the amount foul bacteria developing in the mouth.




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