King’s nursing student explores the role nurses can play in the oral health of mental health service users

The article points out that effective oral assessment is one the key recommendations of the Government’s ‘Five Year Forward View for Mental Health’ “for addressing the stark inequalities in oral health outcomes for people living with serious mental health problems”. It goes on to note that “people who use mental health services are more likely to experience significant tooth loss and decay than the wider population”. In addition, there are specific patients with “long term mental illness, who are at greater risk of dental problems – for example, as a result of medications or lifestyle factors such as smoking.”

However, in spite of this clear need, the piece states that “many mental health nurses do not carry out oral assessment”. In addition, many nurses experience obstacles when undertaking effective oral health assessments and oral health promotion for mental health patients in inpatient settings. Some of the difficulties nurses may experience included a lack of knowledge, including the side effects of certain medications on oral health. Although generic oral health assessment tools are widely available, these are not used as often as they could be, with many nurses relying on subjective assessments.