Dental Branch, Center on Aging create oral hygiene DVD

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The video addresses both issues, using a script and patient scenarios developed by two Dental Branch faculty members and Nancy Bergstrom, Ph.D., R.N., director of the Center on Aging. It was filmed at Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Bellaire by a TV crew from the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

June Sadowsky, D.D.S., M.P.H., clinical assistant professor in restorative dentistry and biomaterials, and Donna Warren-Morris, R.D.H., associate professor of periodontics, both appear in the video, explaining the need for good oral care and demonstrating how to do it. They both credit Center on Aging medical writer/producer Phyllis Lengyel with making the script, location and residents fit the patient care scenarios they wanted to address.

The video will be available for purchase soon. Short clips can be seen free at http://son.uth.tmc.edu/coa/community.htm.

The oral hygiene video is the second developed by the Center on Aging. The first was on preventing pressure ulcers, and Bergstrom said it has been very popular. "We just sold 700 copies to one state where the goal is to reduce pressure ulcers in nursing home residents," she said.

The Center plans to develop other short, how-to videos to assist family caregivers and provide training for nursing assistants. The Isla Carroll Turner Friendship Trust provided $110,000 to the Center for upcoming projects this year, and some of the money will help support video production.

"We hope to develop a library of short clips as a free resource to the elderly," Bergstrom said. "The full-length videos will be available for more extensive training."

Dental Branch students will use the latest DVD as a teaching tool when they do in-service training for nurse aides, and Warren-Morris noted that "it would be a great educational tool for alumni across the state to use to improve the oral health of institutionalized elderly."

For more information about the Elder Loving Care ™ Oral Hygiene Caregiver Training DVD, contact Sadowsky at 713-500-4064 or Warren-Morris at 713-500-4396.